Kesha Bell remembers what it’s like to feel hungry and hopeless as a child, and to have a caring adult step in and change her life.
That’s why she loves her job at Oklahoma City’s Greystone Elementary School, where she oversees the Regional Food Bank’s Backpack Program.
Kesha distributes 122 backpacks every Friday to students from low-income families — students like the girl giving Kesha a high five in the photo. The backpacks are chock-full of food to provide nutrition and calories over the weekend for children living with hunger.
Kesha wants to instill hope in these kids, just as one adult did for her growing up in a poor and dysfunctional family.
“My mother’s boyfriend was a pimp and a dope dealer,” Kesha says. “And she was one of his main prostitutes. Sometimes we went from place to place, house to house, living with friends and family.
“At times, I didn’t have food. I started stealing things. I went to people’s houses and stole food.”
As a child, Kesha hung around the flea market, where a vendor named Sue took notice of her. Where others shooed kids away if they weren’t buying anything, Sue reached out and offered Kesha a job.
“She gave me a chance,” Kesha says. “And she told me, ‘One day, you’re going to have a family. One day, you’re going to be a powerful woman.’
“She gave me something that changed my life, and that’s just like the Backpack Program.”
Today, Kesha is just passing along what she received: opportunity. She knows that a solid education is vital, and she knows that a child facing hunger can’t excel in school.
“If you’re hungry, you can’t focus, you become bitter because of your circumstances,” says Kesha. “Once you give them that food, you’re giving them hope.
“It’s more than just a meal. It can change a life, just like it changed mine.”
The Backpack Program serves nearly 20,000 elementary school children every week. For just $100, you can support a child in the program for an entire school year. Thank you!