Kids Helping Kids

About Kids Helping Kids

Kids Helping Kids is a new joint school and PTA program at Fox Mill Elementary School. It is part of theFox Mill Schoolcommunity’s commitment to serving the community at large and providing students with service learning opportunities.

The Kids Helping Kids program provides 100 bags of kid-friendly breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack foods to students from low-income families at another elementary school in the area each month. The food is designed to supplement the food that a child has to eat over the weekend when free breakfast and lunch are not available at the school

Students at Fox Mill Elementary School assemble the bags of food during school time along with a lesson on the issue of hunger presented by Fox Mill teachers as well as a writing or drawing exercise for reflection purposes.

Fox Mill families provide the food that goes in the bags. Each bag contains the following items:

One package of Keebler crackers (e.g., cheese and crackers or peanut butter crackers)
One packet of hot chocolate
One container of Jiff to Go peanut butter
One container of applesauce
One package of fruit snacks
One packet of Quaker instant oatmeal
One granola bar
One mini-box of cereal
One cup of Chef Boyardee
One packet of Easy Mac
One small packet of pretzels
One packet of microwave popcorn

Schedule

The students from the following grades will assemble bags on the following dates. Each date is a Friday and the Kids Helping Kids program will occur at 2:15 p.m.

Date                Grade
Oct. 28             6^thNov. 18           5^thDec. 16            4^thJan. 27             3^thFeb. 24            2^ndMarch 30         1^st
April 27           K
May 25            6^th

Donations

Families of students in the grade that is participating in the Kids Helping Kids program that month are invited to sign up to donate food items. Donations are voluntary.

Food donations are placed in the gray plastic bin labeled “Kids Helping Kids food” in the school cafeteria. If a student brings in a donation, the student should take the donation to class and bring it to the cafeteria at lunch time. Only food on the sign up forms should be placed in the bin in the cafeteria. The PTA and the school are not collecting other food donations in that bin. Any food placed in the bin but not used by the Kids Helping Kids program will be given to Reston Interfaith for its use.

All students participate in the program (i.e., learn about hunger and assemble a bag) regardless of whether their family has donated food. Students will not be told who donated what food.

Volunteering

Parent volunteers are essential to the success of the Kids Helping Kids program. The Kids Helping Kids committee consists of a Kids Helping Kids (KHK) Program Coordinator and KHK Representatives from each class (K through 6^th). The KHK Representative coordinates the donations and volunteers needed for the program that month. One person can be the KHK Representative for more than one class. Room parent contacts can also be the KHK Representative for the class.

Parent volunteers are needed each month when the students participate in the program. The volunteers help the students place the correct food in the bags. When parents sign up to donate food, they will also be asked to sign up to help at the program.

To sign up to be a KHK Representative, click here to e-mail KHK Program Coordinator Amy Fujii.

Service Learning and Hunger

Research shows that students of all ages benefit from service learning. The benefits range from gaining a broader understanding of socioeconomic differences across their community to increasing their ability to see themselves as a part of positive change. Service learning goes beyond donations and gives students the opportunity to learn about other’s needs and ways to meet them.

Despite the fact that families in Fairfax County and other areas ofNorthern Virginia have a high median income, there are definitely people in need of food and other donations in our community. The poverty rate in Northern Virginiais 5 percent. Based on U.S. Census figures, roughly 90,000 people live in poverty and 30 percent of those are children. Those children often face food insecurity; they don’t always have enough to eat.

The school system addresses food insecurity issues with its free and reduced-lunch breakfast and lunch programs which serve approximately 45,000 students. However, counselors, teachers, and staff at many schools are finding that students are coming to school hungry on Monday because they simply did not have enough food to eat over the weekend. This hunger has a negative impact on a student’s ability to focus, learn, and participate productively in the classroom.

For more information about the issue of hunger, see these non-profit organizations:
Feeding America
Food for Others
Reston Interfaith

Note: None of these organizations are endorsed by the Fox Mill PTA orFox Mill School but are provided simply as a reference.

Japanese Translation

The following is an explanation of the Kids Helping Kids program in Japanese:

Kids Helping Kidsは、フォックス・ミル小学校ＰＴＡ主催の新しいプログラムです。

Kids Helping Kidsプログラムは、毎月1回、低所得層の家族で近郊の別の小学校に通う児童に、子供向けの食べ物を毎回100袋分用意するプログラムです。

フォックス・ミル小学校の児童が中心となり、学校の時間内に袋に食べ物を詰める作業を行い、同時に「飢え」についての授業を受けます。

その袋に入る食べ物の寄付を、フォックス・ミル小学校児童のファミリーにお願いしております。
食べ物の寄付の例は、signup geniusにリストされていますのでご覧ください。（http://www.signupgenius.com/go/kids108）

スケジュール

各学年が以下の日程で袋詰めの作業を行います（毎回の作業は金曜日）。
Kids Helping Kidsのプログラムは2:15 pmから開始されます。

日付と学年
10月28日 6年生
11月18日 5年生
12月16日 4年生
1月27日 3年生
2月24日 2年生
3月30日 1年生（5年生が補助）
4月27日キンダー（6年生が補助）
5月25日 4年生

自分のファミリーが食べ物を寄付したかに関わらず、全ての児童がこのプログラムに参加（飢えについての授業、袋詰めの作業）します。誰がどの食べ物を寄付したかということは、児童には知らされません。

ボランティアへのお願い

毎月、本プログラムに児童が参加する時に保護者のボランティアを必要としております。
ボランティアとしての主な役目は、児童が食べ物を正しく分別して袋詰め出来るようにする手助けです。
保護者が食べ物寄付のサインアップをするときに、本プログラムへのボランティアにもサインアップするよう、追加のお願いがなされます。

本プログラムに対してのご質問は、Amy Fujiiさんにメール（wooster92@yahoo.com）でお願いします。
皆様のご協力、どうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます。

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