From the Desk of the Head of School- November 9, 2018

11/8/2018

Dear Parents,

Next week is the start of our Second Harvest Food Drive. We were recently discussing how far back our association with this local nonprofit goes, as they opened their doors in 1978. As we discussed our upcoming food drive with long tenured faculty and alumni, we realized we have worked with Second Harvest for at least the last thirty consecutive years.

As stated on its website, “Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is one of the largest and most comprehensive of over 200 food banks and food distribution centers nationwide. During the 2016/2017 fiscal year, Second Harvest distributed more than 32 million pounds of food to more than 490 Partner Agencies, providing more than 26 million meals of food to hungry children, families and seniors throughout our 46-county service area.”

Your child will be coming home tonight with the red bag for collecting food. Please take a moment to discuss why it is we collect food for Second Harvest. You know your child best, so entering into that conversation will be different in each household. But perhaps some of the following data could be helpful. As I mentioned last year, many of the recipients of this food look a lot like our own families. They…

...value education. 71% of households have a member with a GED or high school degree, while 23% of Second Harvest clients attained some form of higher education. However, 26% of client households were forced to make a choice between food or education.
...own homes. 57% of the families who visit Second Harvest Food Bank had to choose between buying food or paying their mortgage.
...are comprised of children. 64,000 children are served by Second Harvest Food Bank.

And if you really want to blow their minds, consider some of these numbers*:

1 in 8	People, including 1 in 5 children, struggles with hunger in Middle Tennessee
31,000,000	Pounds of food distributed
1,000,000	Meals provided through Second Harvest Emergency Food Box locations
150,052	Meals provided to families through 29 School Food Pantries
6,405	Hungry children who received a bag of easy-to-prepare food through Second Harvests’ BackPack Program, to take home each weekend and during holidays

Over the last thirty years our mission to educate and inspire young people to become thoughtful, creative, lifelong learners and self-disciplined, responsible, caring citizens and Second Harvest’s mission to serve the hungry in Middle Tennessee have aligned in very powerful ways. It is our hope that next week, through the Second Harvest Food Drive, we can live out our mission in real and tangible ways. Thank you for your support of this incredible partnership.

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