The Junior League of Texarkana welcomes a new member class each year and one of their tasks is to present and complete a community project. This year’s class of 20 women has chosen to start a project called Open Hearts Food Pantry in partnership with Harvest Texarkana.
This project will focus on providing food to kids in grades 6 – 8 in need at four local middle schools. These schools will include: North Heights Entrepreneurial leadership Academy , College Hill Academy of Design, Texas Middle School and Liberty Eylau Middle School. The program with model one that is already in place for children K – 5 called the backpack feeding program.
Felicia Horn, one of Junior Leagues new members and a teacher at North Heights Junior High says she has personally witnessed many students that she interacts with daily struggling with hunger. This is why she saw the need to pitch the idea of starting a program like this to help other students who may be struggling in the area.
Open Hearts Food Pantry will serve 15 students from each of the four school that meet the requirements. Harvest Texarkana is partnering with the Junior League to act as the distributor. It cost $125.00 to feed one student for a year. The Junior League will be funding the project for one year, but plan to create a sustainable plan to keep to keep it going for many years to come.
Anyone can help feed a child through the ‘Sponsor-a-Child’ program. Businesses, Families, organizations, churches, or any group can donate to help feed one or even multiple students. You can do this by contacting the Junior League office at JLTexarkana@valornet.com . All donations are tax deductible and would be greatly appreciated. They also have merchandise for sell including a ‘Dual Citizenship’ t-shirt and all proceeds will be beneficial for the pantries.
