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Hillendale Bagged Lunch Program The Bagged Lunch Program is a community service experience for all Hillendale Elementary School's first through fifth grade students in which they prepare a bagged lunch for a person in need. The pennies that are collected during the Penny Drive fund this program. The students are educated about hunger in our community and how they can make a difference through this outreach effort. In addition to preparing a sandwich and packing the lunch, they are asked to decorate a brown paper bag with a picture and/or a meaningful message that will be heartening for a person going through a difficult time.The lunches are prepared on Friday mornings beginning in February. Each HE first through fifth grade teacher is asked to sign up for one turn for their class to participate. A sign up sheet is posted in the office. It should take each class no more than one half hour to make the lunches. This allows the program to run for eight weeks, providing 45 to 50 bagged lunches per week to the recipients at the soup kitchen. The lunches are given out after dinner on Friday evenings. Since this soup kitchen is closed on Saturdays it may be the only food a person in need is given for the next day.
The program's co-chairs along with weekly parent volunteers assist the students to make the lunches. The cafeteria staff prepares trays of sliced lunch meats, and supplies the bread, cookies, condiments , napkins, paper bags and provides gloves for the students to wear while handling the food.(These items are purchased from the cafeteria). The program volunteers shop for fresh fruit, chips and juice boxes to supplement the lunches. One additional parent volunteer arrives at the end of the school day to pick up the lunches and delivers them to the soup kitchen by 4:30 p.m. that afternoon.
Any questions please contact the program coordinator Barbara Bryer 610 388-9663 jaber@comcast.net Thanks in advance for your support with this most worthwhile effort.