A typical day with volunteers bagging the “sac pacs” for delivery.
Sodexo registers across the Lee University campus will be accepting patron donations on Tuesday, Sept. 24, for Sac Pac, a community outreach program of the Caring Place in Cleveland that works to help feed the children of Bradley County who are living below the poverty line.
From Sept. 24-30, all registers will be accepting donations in $.50, $1 and $5 increments. Donations can be made with cash or credit cards.
“One hundred percent of all donations will stay right here in Bradley County supporting the Sac Pac program,” said Timothy Tenon, general manager of Lee University dining services.
Sac Pac is the result of a five-year decreasing grant provided by the United Way, the work of volunteers who come to the Caring Place, and support from donors. The program orders food through the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, packages four pounds of food into individual white bags, and delivers these to eight different elementary schools in the county each Thursday.
Through Sac Pac, approximately 1,700 pounds of food are delivered every week to feed children in Bradley County.
According to Sac Pac Program Coordinator Lee Ann Lowe, over 25 percent of children in Bradley County are living in poverty. The children whom this program serves are impoverished to the point that the only time many of them eat is when they receive breakfast and lunch at school.
“We make sure that it’s good, nutritious food,” said Ms. Lowe, who will be on Lee’s campus next Tuesday to share information about Sac Pac and ways that volunteers and supporters can take action. There will be a booth in the Deacon Jones Dining Hall with this information available.
“We are dependent upon volunteers for all of this,” Ms. Lowe said. “It started out really small, but it’s just exploding.”
The program has grown from its beginning in 2012, feeding 100 children at three schools, to this year feeding 426 children in eight schools.
This campus-wide fundraiser is timed to take place during National Hunger Action Month (September), and everyone in the community is encouraged to support the cause of ending hunger by wearing orange, the color of hunger awareness on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
The Caring Place in Cleveland is a Christian non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, diapers, and social services to families and individuals in the community who are in need.
For more information, contact Lee Ann Lowe at The Caring Place at 472-4414 or email SacPac@thecaringplaceonline.net.