MARYSVILLE – Kim Carrington used to go to the food bank to get supplies to help feed her six kids.

But now that she works, she can no longer go there during the five hours each week the Marysville Food Bank is open.

The food bank, however, is still helping her family, just with a different program.

For about five years now the food bank has offered the Food for Thought program. It used to fill backpacks with food for students in need to take home to over the weekend to make sure they were fed. Because backpacks went missing, the program has now switched to plastic sacks.

The program started in 2012 with 25 students. A few weeks ago there were 418. Now there are 543. The reason it grew so quickly is because Life Church 360 in Smokey Point no longer had the funds to feed Lakewood High, Lakewood Middle and Cougar Creek Elementary school kids. “We do the other Lakewood schools. I wasn’t about to say no,” said Amy Howell, assistant director and program manager for the food bank. “It’s grown tremendously, which is sad,” she added. “I never thought we’d be hitting these numbers.”

Howell said most people are blind to all the hunger and associated problems locally.

“Coming to work here nine years ago opened my eyes to a lot of things,” she said. “People don’t realize the problems people are having in our community.”

Howell said hunger is just not in Third World countries anymore. “It’s here,” she said, adding one in four local people deal with hunger daily.

The food bank works closely with principals and counselors at each school to figure out which students need help. If a student gets free or reduced lunches, has behavior problems or doesn’t come to school those can be signs.

Students get the food on Thursdays or Fridays. The bags are Seahawk blue and green and can have up to 8 1/2 pounds of food in them for breakfasts, lunches and dinners. “Some kids are so excited they come in Monday and ask, ‘Are we going to get food again on Friday?’” Howell said.

The items in the bags are easy for children to eat. They include: juice, milk, carrot and cheese sticks, apples and oranges, fruit snacks, granola bars, mac and cheese, applesauce cups and popcorn. Much of the food is donated by Grocery Outlet.

Howell said: “These children are our future. If we don’t take care of them, what’s our future going to be like?”

Carrington, a single mom who doesn’t receive child support, said the bags of food her children bring home are “kid friendly.”

“They enjoy it. It’s a big deal to them,” she said. “It’s little things kids can grab and snack on.”

Carrington said they appreciate it so much it’s almost like a weekly present.

“My first-grader was upset when he didn’t get it Thursday, and had to wait until Friday,” she said. Carrington said the program is needed.

“A lot of people are unfortunate and don’t have a lot of money,” she said.

Moiya Rossnagle, the family liaison at Quil Ceda Elementary, said that school is in its fifth year in the program, having started at about 25 and now having up to 90 kids involved.

Families are so grateful for the help. “One grandma almost cries because of how thankful” she is as it helps make ends meet with groceries.

Rossnagle said students don’t make fun of those who get help. “There is no secretive way to do it. No way to hide it. But we don’t broadcast it either,” Rossnagle said. She said Howell always seems to know who the homeless kids are. “She beefs up their bags a little bit more with a serving of bread, toiletries,” Rossnagle said, adding the school has very attentive teachers who help her connect with students who need help. “We sometimes find out in a roundabout way,” Rossnagle said, adding a student may just seem extra hungry.

To make a donation, go to Paypal at the website marysvillefoodbank.org.