Weekend Food
Kids are Hungry
in our Community
BY AMY MORGAN
WRITER
Most of us look forward to
weekends, anticipating
family fun – backyard
barbecues, soccer games
and Little League, It’s hard to
comprehend that for many
children in San Antonio,
weekends represent a food
desert, with uncertainty
about whether they will
have enough to eat.
This scenario is the plight of
thousands of local children. In fact
10-20 percent of those who receive free
and reduced school lunch typically
suffer from weekend food insecurity,
said Leslie Kingman founder and
volunteer executive director of Snack
Pak 4 Kids (SP4KSA), a ministry
providing food every weekend to
thousands of students needing supplemental
nourishment.
It can be because of job loss, a
parenting issue, substance abuse,
Kingman said, listing reasons children
may be food insecure. “We have a lot of
grandmothers raising kids. Many of
our families are just barely getting by.”
Kingman attended a conference
whose speaker challenged her to be
more intentional in her efforts to share
God’s love with others, she explained.
“Our church (Grace Northridge) was
already in relationship with a school,”
she said. “We were doing events and
Christmas giving, but we were looking
for something that displayed a more
consistent representation of how God
is there for us. He doesn’t just drop by.
He’s not there just at the holidays. We
wanted a way to convey His consistent
love.” She was connected with Snack
Pack 4 Kids’ flagship program in
Amarillo, which inspired her to replicate
their model in San Antonio seven
years ago.
Volunteer kid groups like Scouts, church youth groups,
and high school service clubs all love to come help.
9 www.saBeacon.com December 2018
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