Oct. 25, 2023 – The Community Health Foundation of Kay County has provided a $30,000 grant to help fund the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Food for Kids Programs at several Kay County schools.
The Regional Food Bank operates the Backpack and School Pantry programs at 14 schools in Kay County.
“We are so grateful to the Community Health Foundation of Kay County for partnering with the Regional Food Bank to provide funding for these crucial programs,” said Stacy Dykstra, chief executive officer of the Regional Food Bank. “Thanks to your support, thousands of nutritious meals will be provided to Kay County students this school year.”
The Regional Food Bank’s Backpack Program provides kid-friendly, nutritious food to students living with food insecurity to help them fill the gap between school meals and weekends and holidays. Last school year, the Backpack Program provided the equivalence of 18,575 meals to 247 students at the following schools:
- Blackwell Elementary School
- Garfield Elementary School
- Liberty Elementary School
- Ponca Tribal Head Start
- Tonkawa Elementary School
- Trout Elementary School
- Washington Pre-K Center
- Woodlands Elementary School
The School Pantry Program operates as an on-site pantry for chronically hungry middle and high school students to shop for food to sustain them after school and over the weekends. Last school year, pantries in six Kay County schools served provided the equivalence of 18,795 meals to 264 students:
- Ponca City West Middle School
- Ponca City High School
- Ponca City East Middle School
- Teen PEP
- Wildcat Academy
- Tonkawa Middle School
