Lovepacs Plano seeks help in providing food to hungry students

PLANO, TX – Lovepacs Plano, a nonprofit food pantry, works with local schools to give breakfast, lunch and snacks to food insecure families.

Normally the pantry stocks its shelves with food from grocery stores like Aldi. But as shoppers over-buy,shelves run empty and pantries are not able to supply goods to students who need them.

“Our biggest concern right now is that we can’t get enough food to put into the boxes. We’ve been cut off from all of our vendors because they’re having to get food to the stores,” Plano Chapter Lead Mimi Conner said.

Conner has been in contact with grocery store vendors about getting supplies. She said the stores are still trying to meet the demands of buyers.

“The hoarding, the panic and the people in frenzy thinking that the whole city is going to shut down has hurt the rest of us that are just trying to manage day to day and trying to help families that can’t get into stores or don’t have the means buy what’s in the store,” Conner said.

During school breaks, the nonprofit fills up boxes of food and sends them to schools for counselors and teachers to distribute to students who need them.

The nonprofit is now hand-delivering boxes to doorsteps for students without transportation.

Conner said she works with students from ten schools in the area. During breaks in past months, Lovepacs delivered hundreds of boxes of food. “At Christmas we did over 300 boxes,” she said.

Triggers for food insecurity are not always as simple as having a lower income. Conner said a lot of students need help with food because of transitions in the family.

“This could be a family that is just on hard times. It could be a family in crisis, it could be a divorce and separation,” Conner said.

Now, as families face economic uncertainty in COVID-19, food insecurity is even more of a focal point for Lovepacs. Donations made to the organization are streamlined into providing food for students.

“Lovepacs, because we’re working directly with the schools, every food, every dollar, goes directly to our students in school,” Conner said.

People wanting to volunteer for the organization can work as “Lovepac ambassadors,” according to Conner. If residents see shelves restocked with nonperishables, they can drop them off with the pantry.

For those who stocked up on extra items they do not need, Conner said Lovepacs will gladly take them.

“We will accept it graciously,” she said. “No questions asked.”

The pantry, located at 3900 W. 15th St., is open Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from noon to 3 p.m.