WACO, Texas — Volunteers for Pack of Hope were back on Tuesday for the first time since summer break has ended.
The organization began about 13 years ago after two former school employees saw a need in their district.
"Every day if you go to the campuses, especially on a Monday, you'll see children that are running to get into the cafeteria for breakfast," Co-Founder Cliff Reece told 25 News.
Reece and his co-founder Jane Boundes said they noticed some students didn't always have enough to eat, especially over the weekends.
"It's 66 hours from their last meal getting their food on Friday to Monday morning breakfast," Boundes said.
"How many adults do you know, much less children, that can wait 66 hours for their meal? Not many."
Pack of Hope is a volunteer-run organization that serves hundreds of students each week in McLennan County.
"If they're nutritionally challenged, they're not focused in the classroom," Reece said.
"They're falling asleep, or they're hungry, or they're thinking of something else and they don't have the same opportunities that you and I do."
They hand out bags of food each Friday to hold the children over through the weekend.
"There is typically 12 to 14 items in the bags," Reece said.
"We try to focus on your protein items, your mac and cheese, your soups, beef raviolis, there's fruit cups, granola bars in there."
This year the organization is serving more than 820 students across multiple schools. Volunteers hope to see more volunteers and donations so they can help even more kids.
For more information on donations and volunteering, you can visit their website here.
