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our story
## Since 2012
Snack Pak 4 Kids® San Antonio was born out of a simple yet powerful mission: to improve educational outcomes by banishing weekend hunger among school kids. Every Friday, we ensure that at-risk children have wonderful Snack Paks to take home, so their weekends are hunger-free. Our journey began in 2012, when we placed our very first Snack Paks into kids’ backpacks at Lamar Elementary, marking the start of our mission. Since then, we’ve expanded to serve numerous schools and thousands of children all across San Antonio.
The inspiration for SP4KSA traces back to the visionary founders of Snack Pak 4 Kids® in the Texas Panhandle. The members of Grace Northridge Church partnered with the Panhandle group and established our own Snack Pak 4 Kids® San Antonio. In February 2021, we reached a significant milestone by becoming an independent nonprofit organization (a 501(c)3). Since then, our growth has been nothing short of remarkable, currently providing weekend food supplements to 3,000 children every Friday throughout the school year.
We’re blessed to collaborate with numerous local churches, civic organizations, businesses, and private schools, collectively serving over 50 public schools in eight school districts in Bexar County. And we are still growing.
Teachers play a pivotal role in this endeavor. They identify students who may face chronic hunger over the weekends. With parental or guardian permission, Snack Paks are discreetly placed in each of those children’s backpack every Friday; a moment of anticipation and joy for these children.
What truly sets us apart is our incredible volunteer base, which boasts over 2,000 dedicated people of all age groups and abilities. This united community effort is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring food security for children. Volunteering for an evening at Snack Pak 4 Kids® SA is often a social group or family affair; there is music, activity, socializing, and the joyfully satisfying feeling of knowing that the Snack Pak that you are personally packing will within days be enjoyed and appreciated by a child.
Thanks to our generous partnerships and the tireless dedication of volunteers, much of the work for this program is carried out for free by volunteers, ensuring that the majority of all donations received by SP4KSA go directly toward providing food for hungry children.
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#### Our Mission
Hunger impacts a child’s ability to learn. SP4KSA provides weekend food supplements to serve the needs of chronically hungry children, addressing the relationship between food insecurity and learning.
## Frequently Asked Questions
**98% of all donations are used to buy food, unless the donor****designates otherwise.**
##### How much does it cost to sponsor a child or a school?
We strive to minimize our bag costs without compromising the nutritional quality of the resources in each bag given to students. Presently, we can support an elementary student for around $16 per month or $175 per year during the school year. In addition to our school year programs, we extend our assistance by supplying Snack Paks to more than 5,000 children participating in summer school.
##### Can I donate directly to a specific school or Independent School District?
Certainly. Any Independent School District (ISD) or school that takes part in our program has its dedicated account within SP4KSA. This means that all donations designated for a specific school or ISD are allocated exclusively to support that particular school or district. Any contributions not earmarked for a specific school go towards funding schools or programs who currently do not have sponsors. If you wish to donate to a particular school or ISD, simply visit our donation page and follow the instructions provided on the form.  Please let us know if your school is not listed at admin@sp4ksa.org.
##### How do you select which schools are in your program?
In fact, the choice is not ours to make; it is determined by the communities, churches, Independent School Districts (ISDs), and schools themselves. We initiate our support when a need is identified and a volunteer organization is ready to take on the responsibility for at least partial funding, as well as handling all aspects of weekly distribution. Our objective is to ensure that SP4KSA becomes a sustainable solution for addressing weekend hunger among the school’s students.
##### How much of my donation actually goes to feeding children?
98% of all donations are dedicated to purchasing food for the program. We make deliberate efforts to minimize our overhead costs.
##### Why do you only allow food drives for peanut butter?
To adhere to our commitment of using quality brand name snacks we know children will eat, we purchase all products for the bags with the exception of peanut butter. Calorie-for-calorie, peanut butter is a nutritionally dense food packed with protein, fiber, and heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. These jars of peanut butter are incorporated into our Snack Paks once a month. Collecting peanut butter enables us to manage the cost of each Snack Pak without compromising the overall quality.
##### What size peanut butter do you need? Why?
We accept any brand of 18 oz. plastic jars of creamy peanut butter to include in a child’s Snack Pak once a month. Larger jars can be challenging for young students to carry home, and the added weight of a large jar can potentially crush other items in the bags. Please note that for safety reasons, we cannot accept glass jars.
##### What types of foods are in the bags?
We purchase brand-name, high-quality snacks that we are confident children will enjoy. We conduct taste tests with kids to ensure that we offer them shelf-stable snacks they love while also emphasizing the importance of calories, calcium, and protein. Each snack we provide must meet the following criteria:
* Limited high-fructose corn syrup
* Shelf-stable (no refrigeration required)
* Easy to open
* No utensils needed to consume
* No preparation required
* No adult supervision is required to prepare a meal
##### How are kids selected to be in your program?
At every participating school campus, staff members identify students who are experiencing chronic hunger and do not appear to have consistent weekend nutrition. Teachers observe behaviors and physical symptoms to recognize these students. Once a student is identified, the school contacts the guardian or parent to obtain permission for the child to participate in the program. Once permission is granted, the student discreetly starts receiving Snack Paks each Friday. These packs are placed in their backpacks by their classroom teacher when other children are not present.
##### What are some potential signs of food insecurity teachers observe?
Behaviors include:
* Rushing food lines
* Exhibiting extreme hunger on Monday mornings
* Eat others’ food
* Consistently asking for seconds
* Being extremely thin or obese
* Having chronically dry or cracked lips
* Being excessively sick or having high absenteeism
##### How/when can I volunteer?
SP4KSA relies on  and is a community-wide effort that depends on the support of numerous individuals to ensure Snack Paks are distributed each week. We regularly require assistance with the following tasks:
* Retrieving empty totes from schools
* Preparing the warehouse for packing
* Packing bags at the warehouse
* Gathering and organizing donated peanut butter
* Delivering totes to schools
##### Where do most volunteer activities take place?
Most of our work is done at our warehouse location, inside the Daily Bread Ministries Warehouse at 3559 Belgium Lane, 78219.
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