Peachtree – While MANNA has resumed support for the Student Weekend Wellness Bags, several schools in Cherokee County could not be fully onboarded for the program for the 2024-25 school year.
In light of this, a partnership between the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, Cherokee Clay Food Alliance, Educate 4 Success and Cherokee County Schools has formed to provide 130 students in Murphy Middle School, Murphy High School, Ranger Elementary School, Peachtree Elementary School, The Oaks Academy and Tri-County Early College with bags to ensure all students have food over the weekend.
With the help of Educate 4 Success, they have set up an efficient and organized operation within the last two weeks. Every first Thursday of each month, volunteers pack up the Student Weekend Wellness Bags.
MANNA was able to provide them with five palettes and has promised another 10. Each palette contains a single type of item, and these bags need to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for each student for both Saturday and Sunday. Many students say they look forward to and depend on these bags for food over the weekend.
“We just want to get food to the kids who really need it,” said Marlana Baker with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.
They are asking community members for monetary and item donations, as well as seeking volunteers to help pack bags and potentially deliver the bags to the school systems. The members of these organizations are performing all of these operations on their own.
Those looking to volunteer can contact Victoria Ivie with the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce at director@cherokeecountychamber.com or 828-837-2242, Megan Lambert with Cherokee Clay Food Alliance at cherokeeclayfoodalliance@gmail.com or Baker at marlana_baker@ncsu.edu or 828-837-2210, Ext. 5.
They expressed interest in finding someone with a large truck capable of loading and delivering the bags and will need volunteers on the first Thursday of each month to pack the bags for the entire month through the end of May. The partnership also extends a thank you to Educate 4 Success for providing them with the space to run this operation, and to Jacob Anderson with 837JUNK for helping them prepare the space supplied by Educate 4 Success.
Items needed are single-serve apple sauce/fruit pouches, pop-top soups or meals such as Chef Boyardee, Cup of Noodles or mac and cheese cups, rice cups, cereal cups, crackers, dried fruits, fruit or vegetable cups, fruit leather, granola bars, oatmeal packs, jerky sticks, tuna salad kits, healthy chip or veggie straws, shelf-stable milk and juices. Items can be brought to the Cooperative Extension office or chamber of commerce. If any businesses are interested in hosting a food drive, contact one of the above individuals.
Monetary donations can be made through the PayPal link on the NC Cooperative Extension Cherokee County Center, Cherokee County NC Chamber of Commerce and Cherokee Clay Food Alliance Facebook pages. Ensure that the use for donation section indicates the donation is meant for the Student Weekend Wellness Bags.