New Utah Food Bank program coming to Sandy Elementary

Kids at Sandy Elementary can now enjoy a nutritious dinner on site after school.

Canyons School District has struck a cooperative agreement with the Utah Food Bank to arrange for dinner to be provided at Sandy Elementary for anyone, ages 18 and under, who would like to participate, up to a total of 80 participants.

Dinner, which staff and volunteers will serve from 5:15 to 5:30p.m., will start following the school’s new after school program,

“They are really quite nice meals which will be prepared at the Food Bank, and then are sent in cold and warm containers, all ready to be served out to the schools,” Karen Sterling, director of student advocacy and access said.

The program is being made available at Sandy Elementary because volunteers are hopeful it will be a success there. “Because we are a Title1 school, we were able to work with our district and with the Food Bank who is the provider for this program,” Sterling said.

Title 1 schools are designated based on the percentage of students who receive free or reduced school lunch. Because of this, all meals served will be tallied and accounted for, then sent to the state to be reimbursed through the Child Nutrition Program.

School administrators were excited to introduce the first year of an after school program to provide extended learning to students who need after school childcare.

“In short, what they are trying to do is create a community learning center in that area,” district spokesman, Jeff Haney said. “It’s not just a food program, but also an academic program. With Title1 money, we’re going to be paying the teachers extra to stay after and offer academic classes.”

Students must be enrolled at Sandy Elementary (or another local school) to participate in the after school program. Anyone may have dinner at the school.

Currently the district is partnered with the Sandy Boys and Girls Club, where many of the children go after school for homework help and activities.

“Parents could continue to send their children to The Boys and Girls Club and then at dinner time, they could pick their kids up and bring them to the school if they wanted them to have dinner at the school,” Sterling said.

District officials are hopeful this program will ensure that no child in the community needs to go hungry and will provide them with a more structured learning atmosphere until parents are ready to pick them up.

“We have really heard from parents’ surveys and discussions that parents want to have their kids in a more structured environment after school,” Sterling said. “They appreciate the extra academic help and they are also appreciative of this opportunity to help with their food budget in the homes by providing dinner at school.”