Community first: Blue Valley School District nonprofit tackles hunger 1 kid at a time

Sherry Owens never imagined the food assistance program she started would be around a decade later.

It’s not that Owens thought it wasn’t a worthy effort.

She wasn’t sure the necessity would be there.

“We thought we’d fill a need and that’s it,” Owens said.

What has happened since 2012 is that more than 65,500 packs of food have been given to students in the Blue Valley School District.

The impressive reach is made possible by a humble number of volunteers. About 50 people raise money, arrange purchases and donations, and then pack and deliver the food. All within a budget of about $45,000 a year.

Community for Kids got its start by a group of volunteers who were already helping in the community. The group — which included Owens as well as Gary Flick, Mary Minshull and Claudia Wolf — had been volunteering in a program connected with Johnson County Service that offered groceries after a vetting process.

Budget constraints led to a discontinuation of that assistance in the Blue Valley area.

Owens’ group of friends noticed the PTO at Indian Valley Elementary School was trying to fill the void of that food assistance all the while raising funds for resources for the entire school.

“This was a problem that needed more resources and coordination,” said Owens, who is president and school liaison for Community for Kids.

So the group of friends stepped up to provide the weekend food packs to 45 students at Indian Valley Elementary School.

And then they decided to explore whether there was need elsewhere in the district.

“We were initially surprised that hunger was an issue at that particular school,” Owens said of Indian Valley elementary. “Once we started reaching out to the other schools, we were surprised at the numbers and the location of the schools in need.

“As we have evolved, it has become clear that the need is district wide. We do not vet the families; the school social workers refer them to us. So we do not know all the situations, but it is clear that there are a variety of reasons that families need this kind of assistance.”

Few resources are available, Owens said. “Even though we have been facilitating this program for 10 years, we continue to be surprised at the growing need.”

The first enrollment for Community for Kids included 77 students at five schools.

“And we had no idea where our funding was going to come from,” Owens said.

The group moved quickly to receive 501(c) 3 designation. For the first few years, Community for Kids held several small fundraisers. The group invited friends and volunteers to help, and even got several individual large donors.

“It became clear that we needed to build more awareness to continue to fund our needs,” Owens said.

Community for Kids reached out to school PTOs and civic groups. It applied for local grants and continued its relationships with area churches.

“We are currently involved in taking our story to local businesses asking for support and building our social media presence to build awareness as well,” Owens said. “Many schools and organizations have conducted food drives which has been immeasurably helpful.”

The 2014-15 school year had 225 students, and the 2018-19 school year about 300 students, just prior to the pandemic.

The group is currently helping at 205 students in pre-K through high school from 24 schools receiving food packs.

The impact this makes on the families is immeasurable, said Ruthie Anderson, a school-based social worker at Blue Valley Middle School.

“I am so grateful for the bags of food that come every week that I can send home to our families,” Anderson said.

“I am thinking about a single father who works so hard but what he makes does not cover their expenses. He can barely cover the utilities that he has to pay every month. So that program that sends food home every single weekend is so helpful to his family.

“I am so thankful we have people in our community who are willing to share their resources to help our families.”

Owens said one challenge of Community for Kids is to sustain the financial support without burdening the same core group of supporters

“We rely 100% on community support for our financing,” she said. “We have been so fortunate to continue to be able to meet the needs of the students that are referred to our program.

“But our biggest challenge with the community is awareness — people know that childhood hunger and food insecurity are issues, but they refuse to believe it exists in our own neighborhoods,” Owens said.

“Our goals continue to focus on alleviating the food insecurity for households in the Blue Valley District. We will continue to build awareness in the community around this need.

“It all centers on the health and support of the children and their families.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Community first: Blue Valley School District nonprofit tackles hunger 1 kid at a time."