What It Is
The Weekend Survival Kit program is intended to meet the nutritional needs of children during non-school hours, specifically on weekends. It targets children who receive reduced price breakfast or lunch at school.
According to National Poverty Center, almost one in four children live in poverty. When children have enough healthy food to eat, they are absent from school less, their tests scores improve, their behavior improves, and they are far healthier overall.
Community Partners
Anatomy of a Kit
What's in a kit can vary slightly from week to week. The guidelines are that the food should be kid-friendly, nutritious, easy to prepare, and individually portioned. Some examples of commonly included items are:
- 100% juice boxes
- Oatmeal packets
- Pudding cups
- Individual apple sauce
- Boxes of macaroni & cheese
- Canned vegetables
- Soup
- Pasta with protein
- Crackers
- Fruit snacks
- Jar of peanut butter
Program Logistics
The kits are put together, assembly-line style, by volunteer groups from the community. They generally contain two breakfasts, two lunches, three dinners and two snacks.
Food is placed in a zip top bag, which is then put inside the backpacks at the actual distribution site. Volunteers deliver the food to the schools two Fridays a month.
The Weekend Survival Kits are assembled by volunteers, transported by volunteers, stored by volunteers, delivered by volunteers, and funded by volunteers.
Participating Schools
New schools continue to join the program as groups of volunteers “adopt” a school—fundraise, pack and deliver kits for the students at a particular school.
At the start of the 2011-2012 school year, approximately 400 students at schools from the following districts were participating in the Weekend Survival Kit program:
- Dewitt
- Okemos
- Lansing
- Mason
- Haslett
- Waverly
How to Help
Donate Food - Kits contain individually portioned, nutritious food that require little or no preparation. Suggested items to donate include:
- granola bars
- jars of peanut butter
- oatmeal packets
- boxes of mac & cheese
- canned soup
- 100% juice boxes
Donate Time - The Weekend Survival Kit program is sustained entirely through volunteer support of time and money. Groups can volunteer to pack the kits or to deliver kits to the schools every other Friday.
Donate Funds - Food for the kits is purchased through the Mid-Michigan Food Bank’s network, which means that $1 has the power to buy the equivalent of $10 of food at retail value. Each kit costs about $5, so $95 sponsors one child for an entire school year.
To make a tax deductible donation, checks can be made payable to
Haslett-Okemos Rotary Foundation or to
Okemos Community Church, with “
Weekend Survival Kits” in the memo line.
Donations can be mailed to:
Allegra Marketing • Print • Mail
2805 Jolly Rd
Okemos, MI 48864 Contact
To donate, to volunteer, or for more information, contact Dave Muhleck at (517) 333-0713 or
dmuhleck@allegra-okemos.com.