The Houston Lions Club will conduct a food drive for the Texas County “Blessings in a Backpack” program Jan. 10-16.
The program – orchestrated by the Texas County Food Pantry – provides food during the weekend to children who are “food insecure.” The pantry currently partners with the Houston, Success and Houston Head Start Schools to provide 80 children meals for the weekend.
“We estimate each week it costs approximately $7 to feed each child on the program,” said food pantry director. Bennie Cook. “We are looking at ways to find cheaper food items and grants to help raise money for the program. This is a much-needed program for our area. Teachers tell us that students’ attitudes and grades drastically improve when they’re on the program.”
The program particularly seeks the following items: Individual-size ravioli or macaroni, ramen noodles, chicken noodle soup, canned ravioli, vienna sausages, individual apple sauce, individual non-perishable fruit containers, individual snack items and individual drink items. All donated items need to be non-perishable. Monetary donations are also welcomed.
The public can drop donations off throughout the week at Romines Motor Co. Inc. on U.S. 63 in Houston.
For more information, call 417-967-4484.