photo by: Richard Meidinger

Three Rotary clubs in Lawrence are joining forces to donate snack items for the city's elementary school students. The group here is pictured Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at Maceli's.

Three Lawrence Rotary clubs came together recently to donate and pack hundreds of treats for elementary students in the Lawrence school district, and they intend to expand the service project via a grant.

The project is an attempt by the clubs to lessen childhood hunger by providing snacks like Goldfish crackers, Cheez-Its, Rice Krispies Treats, Fruit Snacks and cereal bars to local schools.

“Teachers find that supplementary snacks during the school day mean that kids are less likely to be tired, are more attentive in class and retain more information,” a news release about the donation states.

photo by: Richard Meidinger

Boxes of snacks are pictured Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at Maceli’s. Three Rotary clubs are engage in a project to supply the snacks to Lawrence schools.

As the Journal-World recently reported, during the 2021-2022 school year, 30% of district families — or 3,350 students — qualified for free or reduced-price school meals. By the next school year, that percentage had jumped to 40.5% of school families, or 4,418 students.

While parents of students are asked to provide a box of healthy shareable snacks once a month, this is beyond the means of many parents, the release states.

Lawrence Rotarians intend to expand the snack project. They have obtained a Rotary District grant for the coming year and will now seek cash donations to match the grant and provide an additional $8,000 to purchase appropriate snacks and get them to community schools.

Those interested in donating can contact Jane Bateman, the Service Committee co-chair at janerb@sunflower.com.