Teacher targets hungry students

Katie Richard says when she started teaching a year ago at Glendale Elementary she discovered there were hungry children in her class.
“I was hearing stories from them,” Richard said. “Mama is not home or I haven’t eaten since Friday at lunch at school. ‘I just love this food in the cafeteria’ and it shocked it me. Not here in Eunice.”
Richard, a former Glendale student, told Eunice Kiwanis Club members Thursday that prior to teaching in Eunice she taught at a public school in north Baton Rouge.
“A lot of times I would go all school year without meeting a parent of a student. You know a lot of these students were on their own and it was just kind of heart-breaking,” he said.
She participated in a program where the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank would provide backpacks loaded with food for students to receive on Friday afternoons. The food was intended to feed the children over the weekend, she said.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, I’m coming back home and it is going to be totally different than Baton Rouge.’ But I quickly discovered that things were a little different at Glendale than when I went there.”
Richard, a pre-kindergarten teacher, said she started thinking about the food program in Baton Rouge and “how excited the kids there were to get the backpacks.”
Richard started Belly Buddies to provide food to students for the weekend.
The first year served about 20 students.
Teachers nominate students to receive the assistance. On Fridays, the students were sent home with a pack full of food.
This year the Belly Buddies project is serving about 40 students, she said.
Permission is sought from parents for students to receive the food and distribution is done discreetly, she said.
“We are just experiencing better behavior and even in some cases better grades,” she said of the food program. “We expect them to sit there and take in all this knowledge and do well on their tests and everything and their bellies might be empty.”
The packs are filled with non-perishable food that the students are able to eat without preparation, she said. A list of food items placed in the bags included ready-to-eat soups, fruit cups and pudding.
“I had a few raised eyebrows last year because teachers and other people in the community said ‘well, that is what food stamps are for.’”
She added, “What we might not think about sometimes is that a kindergartener can’t get to Walmart and use the food stamps. They don’t have that access and when their parents might receive assistance, they don’t benefit from it. So, this a way for them to know that they are taken care of.”
Richard said she would hear about students hiding the food in their rooms.
Richard said it cost about $165 a week to provide the food to the students and she asked for donations from the Kiwanis Club and the public.
Donations can be delivered to the school. She can be contacted at katierichard316@gmail.com or by phone at 337-356-8571.
“I know Glendale is not the only school in town that would benefit from this. So, I would love for it spread all over the town,” she said.