For the eighth year in a row, Broken Arrow (OK) Public Schools held a week-long food drive to fight hunger in the Sooner State! From March 2-6, students, parents, teachers, and administrators from all 29 schools in the districts were asked to bring in donations of peanut butter, canned soups, rice, pasta, and other non-perishable items for their neighbors in need. Nearly 6,900 lbs. of food was collected overall, which will provide more than 5,700 meals for families in Broken Arrow who are facing hunger.
The district-wide food drive started in 2013 when Candy Lievsay, a teacher at Sequoyah Middle School, read an article about Move For Hunger, and knew she wanted to help make a difference. Over the past 8 years, Broken Arrow Public Schools have collected more than 97,000 lbs. of food - which is the equivalent of 80,000 meals.
More than 100,000 people in Tulsa County are food insecure, including 1 in 5 children. Broken Arrow Neighbors provides emergency food assistance to families in the community who are working hard, but still struggling to put food on the table. The Broken Arrow Public School food drive is always important, because it helps keep the shelves stocked at Broken Arrow Neighbors well into the summer. But the developing COVID-19 Pandemic makes this year's drive even more important, because the food pantry will almost certainly see an increase of people needing assistance in the weeks ahead.
Thank you to everyone at Broken Arrow Schools and to Jody Davis & the rest of the team at Accent Moving & Storage everything you do to make this food drive a reality, year after year.
