Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation hits the road to fight hunger in school-aged children

WEST DES MOINES – With 1 in 8 Iowa children facing food insecurity, Iowa Select Farms, under the leadership of the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation, are driving the change to help end childhood hunger. Through the Power Snack™ program, Iowa Select Farms employees will be giving ham and bread coupons, along with pork sticks, to teachers and schools for distribution to their students. This program will supply enough coupons to total over 1,000,000 ham sandwiches, as well as 20,000 pork snack sticks, to help end childhood hunger, which the Foundation’s Power Snack™ program has been tackling for 9 years.

“The Power Snack™ program provides an additional support for families who are struggling to make ends meet each day,” said Teresa Keninger, Principal of Ackley Elementary. “Anything we can do to help ease the burden is worth it to us. When you provide an opportunity like this, we are happy as teachers to help get these items into the hands of families.”

Between October 20th and November 22nd, Iowa Select Farms employees will distribute Power Snack™ Teacher Supply Kits to schools across Iowa. In total, 89 school districts will be recipients of this program. Power Snack™ helps reduce childhood hunger in Iowa by providing kids the means to purchase nutritious food to prepare at home. Four different times throughout the school year, children identified by the school as food insecure receive a $5 coupon for deli ham and $3 coupon for a loaf of whole wheat bread.

Pork sticks were added by the Foundation to the deliveries to provide a non-perishable, immediate infusion of protein for students, resulting in hunger relief and an open door to engagement in the classroom.

“We are eager to be back on the road visiting schools for this year’s Power Snack™ and are dedicated to continue the fight against childhood hunger in Iowa,” said Eleanor Korum, Communications Specialist at Iowa Select Farms. “Teachers simply submit to us the number of students that are considered at-risk for food insecurity, which can really vary by community. Sometimes it is 20 percent of total school enrollment, other times it’s as high as 80 percent. We repeatedly hear feedback from teachers and nurses that our program makes a positive impact on the lives of these children and their families.”