DANVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Every Wednesday gets pretty busy at Presbyterian Church of Danville.
Volunteers hit the kitchen in the afternoon, getting wrapped up in a weekly routine.
“We’re very happy to do it. We have a wonderful group of women who come together every Wednesday and put this together," Cindy Tureca.
Tureca is a board member with Grace Cafe, which reopened as Grace on the Go late last year.
Since early 2022, she has joined several women, tied to Grace Cafe or the church, in packing snack bags for local high school students.
“I’m feeding some of my former students. I’m a retired teacher," Tureca said. “It is fun, a lot of chatter and we really enjoy being together and doing this.”
Jennifer Earle, Grace on the Go's executive director, spearheaded the snack bag program.
It's something she had wanted to put together for a long time.
“When we had Grace on 4th Street, I always wanted to have some kind of after school snack program for kids and I thought this was the perfect time to start it," Earle said.
Each bag gets a sandwich (usually a choice of PBJ, ham or turkey) a bag of chips, a cheese stick or granola bar and some fruit.
Since the start of the program, more than 5,000 snack bags have been made and hand delivered to students at Danville High School.
“It is remarkable. We get a lot of good partnerships anyway but with this we actually get to show the kids that the community does actually want to be involved in our school and with them," Danville High School Youth Center Services Coordinator Jenny Clark said.
Earle sets up right outside the main office, the bags organized by grade, just waiting for the floodgates to open and students rush by to snag their bag.
It's an enjoyable experience for Earle to connect with these kids, many of which take advantage of this program every week.
"When we first started the program it was kind of slow going. I think kids thought it was for kids who couldn’t afford food but this program is for every kid. There’s no restrictions. Any kid in high school can sign up to get the bag," Earle said.
"One girl said her favorite memory was getting their snack bags and having a picnic on the lawn everyday…The kids really appreciate that at the end of the day when they’re hungry there’s something for them to eat.”
Danville High School students can sign up for the snack bag program through the Grace Cafe website.
The google form to fill out can be found here.
