HENDERSON (KTNV) — Thousands of Clark County students rely on free meals during the school day. But what happens when the weekend comes and the cafeteria is closed?
A local nonprofit called Serving Our Kids is stepping in to make sure no child goes hungry when class isn’t in session.
“We really only have one key objective, and that is to provide weekend meal bags for food-insecure children right here in our community,” said Laurie Tanakaya, CEO of Serving Our Kids.
Shakeria Hawkins spoke with Tanakaya and volunteers about the work they do to help keep kids fed.
According to Tanakaya, more than 100,000 children in Clark County are considered food insecure. To help bridge that gap, volunteers meet three days a week inside the nonprofit’s Henderson warehouse to pack meal bags filled with breakfast, lunch, and snack items.
“This is now our storage warehouse. We create meal bags every week, three days a week,” Tanakaya explained.
Once the bags are filled, volunteers deliver them directly to 98 CCSD schools across the valley — schools that staff and students have come to count on.
For volunteer Dawn Langdon, the impact became clear during a simple conversation with a student.
“As an aide, we had a long weekend coming up, and I was saying to a little boy, you know, why are you bummed out? We have a three-day weekend. This is awesome. Who would be sad? He said, ‘Miss Dawn, I’m hungry when we’re not at school.’”
Volunteer Melissa Mendez says that reality is why their work matters.
“These schools depend on it. They know and have set times where they’re looking forward to it and they’re depending on this food. If we don’t deliver — that’s another kid that doesn’t eat over the weekend.”
Each week, Serving Our Kids delivers thousands of meal bags across the valley — and leaders say the demand continues to grow.
If you’d like to get involved by volunteering, donating food, or supporting financially, visit Serving our Kids