When the Indianapolis Public Schools made the decision to close, it was not made lightly. School districts across the state were directing children to stay home after spring break and moving to eLearning. IPS students are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity.
Gleaners supports school-based pantries in 25 IPS schools and provides weekly BackSacks to 4,400 kids in 100 elementary schools in the district. Immediately, those distribution channels were cut off. Working quickly, IPS administration and Gleaners leadership joined forces to ensure that food was available to students and their families.
The anticipated need was 10,000 emergency boxes each week through the end of the school year when summer feeding programs would begin. The program began on March 20 with 17 IPS school buses rolling into the warehouse and leaving loaded with more than 200 emergency boxes. Over the next 10 weeks, 74,000 boxes were distributed to families in need. The cost of the program – over $1.5 million – was funded by generous donors, many of whom supported Gleaners and our mission for the very first time.
One of those first-time gifts came in the form of a corporate challenge. The newly formed Elanco Foundation issued its first check to Gleaners in support of the IPS program. Their #FilltheBanks challenge led to gifts from The Heritage Group, Corteva Agriscience, the Lumina Foundation, Anthem, and Telemon, all in support of IPS students and families.
Now, with in person learning delayed, we’re working with IPS and other school districts in our 21-county service area to determine how we can help bridge that gap, ensuring that no child is hungry.