Students were sharing with staff that they were hungry, so in November, we started providing grab-and-go morning snacks such as fresh fruit, cups of cereal, milk, and bagels with cream cheese. 

One month later we surveyed students and families:

- 95% of the respondents found the snacks helpful

- 25% of students shared they do not eat food in the morning before coming to school

We noticed:

- Setting up grab-and-go breakfasts were so popular that we added two other locations for students to access morning snacks.

- Providing food to students helps build staff and student connections.

- Students continued to ask for snacks, so we expanded to providing snacks throughout the day.  Soon after, the Richmond School District purchased fridges for all schools, so we were able to expand what we could offer to students.

- Adding times to access food in the office and providing snack passes for the other times, helped manage the volume of students accessing snacks and ensuring that they first ate their snacks and lunches that had been provided from home.

- Adding the bi-weekly deliveries of milk and fruit or vegetables also helps introduce students to healthy snacks.