The Kirkland Nourishing Network is working to help feed some of the “neediest of the needy” in Kirkland elementary schools over the spring break.

We are working in the census tract with the highest concentration of low-income households in all of Kirkland, Bellevue and Redmond. At the end of winter, those who accumulate most of their income during the growing season are most in need. We have many of those families in Kirkland.

If you have been in this situation, you understand profoundly. If you haven’t experienced food insecurity as a child you won the lottery and now is as good a time as any to celebrate.

1. Please take a look at the website to see if you are able to help: www.mysignup.com/springbreak

2. Please pass this information along to your friends, neighbors, Facebook list, acquaintances, and even school chums you haven’t seen for years.

Many in our community are not connected to supporting food insecurity in our fair city simply because they don’t know of the need or a way they can help. There is fundamental truth in the saying that many hands make light work. Your list is important to these kids.

Early spring is an especially difficult time for food support for hungry children and their families that are unconnected to existing systems, but we believe Kirkland will step up to this need. You stepped up to meet the challenge last summer. You took on greater challenges at Thanksgiving, during the long December break and at mid-winter. Your efforts have been greatly successful in closing some untended gaps in our support systems, but we still have work to do.

We are having some success working with Hopelink and Pantry Packs to get connections to ongoing support and help moving families to self-sufficiency. That will take a long time, so we are working with current gaps that have been identified by school counselors and teachers who see the needs of these children every day.

This is real need in our community, right now. You and your friends can make an immediate difference in the lives of these children and their families with a box of food. We even have the grocery list for you.

Thanks for considering these these requests (sign up and send out). The food delivery dates are Thursday, April 4 and Wednesday, April 10.  The website is: www.mysignup.com/springbreak

Kirkland Nourishing Network