ELKHORN, Neb. (KMTV) — Nancy Lary spotted a problem. The school districts her organization serves don't qualify for state and federal summer meal programs — leaving hungry kids with less support when school lets out.
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"And we realized of the three districts we serve - Elkhorn, Bennington and DC West — they don't qualify for the summer food program," Lary said.
Lary is the executive director of COPE, which runs a food pantry. Fewer families in the area qualify for free and reduced lunches, which means the school districts don't receive funding for those meals. But that doesn't mean there's no need.
"And knowing that there are a lot of communities in Omaha and Douglas County that do have a food program, we saw an immediate need," Lary said.
COPE got to work, placing a large online grocery order — something the organization had never done before. To feed their neighbors quickly, they turned to HyVee.
"I was just scrolling through our orders getting ready for the week or whatever and saw that I had this 700 piece item," HyVee's Corbin Hopkins said.
The partnership has allowed COPE to offer variety in what it provides to families.
"This week we're doing ham and cheese rollups…so it's things that — there's variety, it's not the same thing every week, it's things that kids can prepare…" Lary said.
Hopkins said the effort is a team undertaking.
"It's not just one or two people taking care of this it is a truly a team..." Hopkins said.
The collaboration also allows COPE to stretch its dollars further.
"If we've ordered one brand of like peanut butter crackers and he can get a better price on another brand he'll let us know…" Lary said.
Once a week, bags of groceries are distributed to families — and the response has been stronger than expected.
"We really are just a couple of weeks in and what we've seen is that parents that just said 'Okay yeah, I'll do that.' are now like 'oh my gosh, I didn't know how much I was going to need this,'" Lary said.
Hopkins said he hopes the program continues.
"I really am fortunate to be a part of this and want to continue years to come," Hopkins said.
COPE plans to continue the program through the summer until kids return to school.
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