The largest pork producer in the state is expanding a children’s food program, taking it outside the school doors and into their homes. Iowa Select Farms and the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation announced on Tuesday their Power Snack program, aimed at reducing childhood hunger in Iowa, will provide nutritious foods for children at home. At-risk children in rural Iowa will receive a Power Snack kit, which includes a $5 coupon for deli ham and a $3 coupon for a loaf of whole wheat bread, the ingredients needed to make their Power Snack at home. The kits are hand-delivered to teachers and school nurses by Iowa Select employees from now through Nov. 19. Teacher kits contain program information and four packs of coupons for each child. These are intended to be distributed before the Thanksgiving, winter, spring and summer breaks. According to Communication Director, Jen Sorenson, this is part of the larger purpose of the program, to empower at-risk children by educating them on how to shop for and prepare nutritious snacks. “Oftentimes parents are working on weekends and holidays,” she says. “Something simple like a ham sandwich may be the difference in preventing kids from going hungry.” In 2018, the initiative will provide more than 23,000 children from 127 Iowa schools with more than 830,000 meals. This reflects a 23 percent increase over 2017. Area schools receiving Power Snack kits include: Audubon, Carroll, Chariton, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Zion Lutheran in Denison, Greene County, East Sac County, South Central Calhoun, Schaller and Schleswig.
