According to a recent Snack Pak 4 Kids® survey of AISD counselors and social workers, as many as 3,000 AISD students live with or are being raised by their grandparents or great grandparents. Local AISD counselors indicate the number could be as high as one-third of those 3,000 families are vulnerable to food insecurity at any point during the school year. Grandparent-headed households experiencing food insecurity can have long-term health implications for the entire family and negatively affect a student’s ability to learn and focus in the classroom.
Helping grandparents raising grandkids
The Tillie Project is a potential solution that offers dignity, respect, discretion and choice for grandfamilies.
Why The Tillie Project?
To address the “grandfamily” food insecurity hidden in our community and impacting our students, Snack Pak 4 Kids® created The Tillie Project. Two years ago, Tillie, a 73 year old retired teacher, drove across town seeking assistance through the summer Snack Pak drive-thru program to fill in the gaps for her two great-grandsons who were living with her at the time. She made too much money to qualify for traditional senior resources. Her story compelled us to look deeper, ask more questions, and ultimately start the program. Her family blessed our organization that summer as she and her great grandsons benefited from Snack Pak bags, and also joined in the effort to pack bags and hand them out each Friday.
How it Works
Snack Pak 4 Kids® works with school counselors and grandparents to provide boxes of brand new, brand name food. Currently the program is available for grandparents raising grandchildren who are enrolled and attending school in the Amarillo Independent School District.
Referral
Grandparents should work with the school counselor at their child’s school. The school counselor can submit a referral form for The Tillie Project.
Select Items
Select items from a menu or receive a pre-packed VIP box. Options include a variety of protein items, canned fruits and vegetables, snacks and staples like rice, beans and pasta.
Delivery
The food is delivered to the school by volunteers during our weekly Snack Pak 4 Kids® delivery. The pre-packed VIP boxes can be delivered to schools for immediate and emergency needs.
Examining the community’s needs
Over the past years, Snack Pak 4 Kids has surveyed thousands of students. Each year we ask students if they’re sharing their Snack Pak with anyone and consistently see that 8-10% of our students are sharing with their grandparents. This continued to reinforce the need in our community to examine the needs of our grandparents raising their grandkids.
Improving overall health
Five years ago, with financial support from the Mary E. Bivins Foundation and High Plains Christian Ministries Foundation, Snack Pak 4 Kids began feeding seniors through a partnership with Heal the City free medical clinic. Our data and study with Heal the City indicated there was a statistically significant difference in their weight loss and BMI, and a trend for improvements in their glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol. We continue to do a weekly grocery program for a group of Heal the City seniors. This model has now been implemented at Amarillo Wesley Community Center and Bivins Village.
Snack Pak 4 Kids
The Tillie Project joins a complement of services that Snack Pak 4 Kids has been building for twelve years: Snack Pak 4 Kids® for students pre-K-8th grade, Snack Shak for high school students, Nutrition 4 Change food services for organizations outside of K-12, and our buying cooperative, which makes brand new, brand name food available and affordable to organizations and schools around the state. Other partners in our Nutrition 4 Change program include Amarillo College, City of Amarillo, Texas Oncology, BSA Hospital, Baptist Community Services, Northwest Texas Healthcare, and Harrington Cancer Center.
