Food bank helps provide food to more than 80 percent of TPS kids who face food insecurity

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) -- Just in Tulsa Public Schools, more than 80 percent of kids face food insecurity.

According to Hunger Free Oklahoma, of the 75 largest school districts in the country, TPS has the 30th highest free/reduced qualifying meal rate percentage.

The district does everything in their power to help, even partnering with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.

Alison Hinman is one volunteer helping to fill bags of food for kids who don’t know where his or her next meal is coming from.

“I think it’s insane, because me, personally, I’ve never gone without, so I’m very thankful for just being able to help the 80 percent of the kids who don’t have it,” said Hinman. “There’s so many people in the world who are always hungry. Even kids at my own school that I know who go hungry, so I think what we’re doing is pretty cool.”

She came here all the way from Kansas with her youth group and friends like Braden Baker.

“I get to help other people in need,” Baker said. “I have the support these other kids don’t have.”

“It teaches us how to be grateful for what we have,” said Hinman. “To be able to give it to kids we don’t even know; it feels good.”

As the volunteer operations manager at the food bank, Kane Powell is making sure each one of the boxes filled with bags of food gets to kids in their backpack program.

“We have a lot of students who get their main nutrition from the meals at school, and so these bags are designed to kind of be a supplement to get them through the weekend,” said Powell. “The teachers will take these bags and put them into their backpacks over recess so nobody is embarrassed, and they are able to take that food and get it to their houses.”

He said they typically do about 10,000 bags every other week, but the food is still not getting to every child in need.

“There’s a lot of kids who either aren’t speaking up or we just don’t know, and so it’s really heartbreaking to know that this is just a fraction of the kids who are struggling with food insecurity here in Oklahoma,” said Powell.

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma also has other programs to help kids facing food insecurity, including their middle school and high school food pantry programs.