HUGS St. Johns recently kicked off its eighth annual No Hungry Holidays program with successful volunteer packing and distribution events to meet the needs of thousands of St. Johns County children. Each No Hungry Holidays bag includes 10 days of breakfast and lunch items, plus snacks, to help fight food insecurity over the long holiday break.
Nearly 100 students from almost every St. Johns County high school helped the HUGS team pack winter break food bags for more than 1,000 kids.
Volunteers packed items ranging from full boxes of cereal to pasta meals to hearty soups, all donated by Winn-Dixie Gives. Dozens of HUGS volunteers were then joined by Sheriff Rob Hardwick, his wife Kendell, and a hard-working team from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. The deputies loaded vans and trucks and helped community volunteers deliver the No Hungry Holidays bags to all 42 St. Johns County schools.
"We are a very tiny all-volunteer team, and we are so grateful for the huge-hearted assistance from our community of volunteers," said Brette Reiman, founder and director of HUGS St. Johns. "We also are very thankful for the incredibly generous food donations from Winn-Dixie Gives, now in their second year of partnering with us to feed 1,300 kids."
HUGS has also received donations from the Bishops' Storehouse for the last several years.
No Hungry Holidays started as an idea in 2014 when a school counselor expressed concern about what many students would eat over the long winter break.
As one counselor said, "The holidays can sadly mean hunger for kids who depend on the school-based breakfast and lunch program."
School counselors, representatives from the Betty Griffin Center and the ASSIST homeless student program request bags from HUGS in November and then distribute the food bags to children right before the holidays.
One school counselor commented, "Several families have shared that without the food bags, their children would not have meals throughout the break."
HUGS is an all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit that provides clothing, shoes, food, school supplies and full-size toiletries to thousands of St. Johns County children throughout the year.
Go to stjohnshugs.org to volunteer or donate.
