KENT, Wash. - When students arrive at Kent Elementary every morning, some of them show up with an empty stomach.
"A lot of times they're crying, they don't feel good," said Shannon Lopez, the school's family advocate.
While a majority of them receive free breakfast and free or reduced lunch at school, they'll go home to bare cupboards. That's where Northwest Harvest comes to the rescue.
With its Three Squares program, mothers like Jennifer can take home a box or a backpack full of food for the weekend to feed her three kids.
"You'll notice kids that were too tired before, used to just lag around, they're out playing soccer and eating healthy now," said Lopez.
"Little snack stuff that I can't afford to get like the Nutrigrain bars, Easy Mac, stuff like that. It fills in the gaps here and there," said Jennnifer.
Since 2004, Northwest Harvest has been providing meals to the most at-risk kids in six school districts across the state. Their goal is to provide three square meals that are nutritious, healthy and kid friendly.
"Things like oatmeal and cold cereal and milk. Fruit is popular so we provide that in lots of differerent forms," said Elise DeGooyer, program coordinator.
Food that is not only good for the body, but for the mind.
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