#RANoHungryChild inspired so many members of the Random Acts staff, when tasked with completing a holiday act of kindness, many embodied the spirit of our year-long campaign to help hungry children. Communications Officer Jessica Burbridge took on that challenge with kidsPACK.
kidsPACK logo rug
Not Everyone Gets Holiday Meals
While many of us look forward to delicious family meals during the holidays, not everyone gets to indulge. Some struggling families are not able to eat at all—never mind that second helping of pumpkin pie.
Kids who rely on school assistance programs for food are often left behind during school breaks. Jessica knew some classmates growing up who could have benefited from a program to help them eat during holiday breaks. That is where kidsPACK comes in.
kidsPACK Helps Food Insecurity in Polk County
Local to Jessica’s location in Polk County, Florida, the organization is desperately needed in the area. According to a 2016 study provided by feedingamerica.org, Polk County faces a staggering 22.4 percent food insecurity rate for children.
According to the website, the kidsPACK mission states: “An everyday backpack is turned into a food transportation module, stocked with nutritious, child-friendly and easy to prepare food for children to eat over the weekend and times they are away from school.” Each child is allotted three meals a day per day that they are out of school.
Getting the Deliveries Home For the Holidays
Jessica’s endless trunk of food
Receiving deliveries in December is always a nerve-wracking process, but Jessica’s worries of lost or stolen packages were put at bay when all of the food for the kids arrived safely at her door. While Jessica played the role of Santa and delivered the food to kidsPACK, she met Patty, who joked, “how deep does that trunk go?”
Patty extended her thanks to Jessica and Random Acts for donating such a large amount of food. Likewise, Jessica felt proud and glad to help (and a little sore from the heavy workout). She even missed a work party that day. However, for Jessica, helping kids who may not have been able to eat at all was worth missing free food. While she does not think people should feel guilty for enjoying their abundance, she was proud to share hers—and that is the spirit of giving, is it not?
Launching Into A New Year (Decade) Of Random Acts
We would like to take the opportunity to extend our thanks to our supporters. You help us do what we do all year long—allowing us to support causes like kidsPACK. We hope to see you in the new decade, but until then, if you would like to read up on some of our other holiday acts, you can find them here. If you are interested in learning more about our hunger campaign, you can check those out on this page. What will we accomplish together next year?