Page & Sage Provides Weekly Bag of Food and a Book to South Lake Tahoe Students

The goal is simple, "Helping the youth of South Lake Tahoe to be well read and well fed."

Hunger isn't just an inner city problem. Hunger isn't just a third world problem. Hunger affects approximately 16 million children in the United States with 3 million rural community households being "food insecure."

How can children focus on solving a math problem or writing an English paper when he or she is trying to ignore the persistent pangs of hunger? School work is forced to compete with hunger.

A lack of adequate nutrition affects the cognitive and behavioral development of children.

In the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, there are 3,855 students, of which 2,329 students qualify for the free or reduced lunch programs. With a district average of 62% in the program it goes to show that there is great need for food in the South Lake Tahoe community. The need at Tahoe Valley Elementary is even greater than at the other schools with 81.9% of the students having the free or reduced lunches each day. It's great that there are programs such as these to help families in need, but what happens on the weekends and holidays when there are no school lunches? What happens when a parent isn't able to provide healthy food for a child either due to lack of income, or, even worse, is addicted and not an attentive parent?

I started Page & Sage to fill this need in the community. There are food backpack programs around the country, but since my passions are literacy, addressing hunger and children, I wanted to do something that addressed all three issues and combined it all into Page & Sage.

There are many tools a child needs in life to be successful. One of those is the ability to read and write. According to national studies, two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70 percent of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level. As of 2011, America was the only free-market country where the current generation was less well educated than the previous.

I can throw out some literacy facts to show you why I'm passionate about doing what I can to help the next generation. 53 percent of 4th graders admitted to reading recreationally “almost every day,” while only 20 percent of 8th graders could say the same. 75 percent of Americans who receive food stamps perform at the lowest 2 levels of literacy, and 90 percent of high school dropouts are on welfare.

Helping a child learn to read will give them a chance to break the cycle and give them the ability to earn enough money as adults so their families will not be hungry.

Page & Sage is already making a difference in South Lake Tahoe. Five middle school students received backpacks of food and a book during the initial year of the program in 2012. This school year, 20 students at South Tahoe Middle School get a weekly bag along with 26 students at Tahoe Valley Elementary and 3 at South Tahoe High.

An example of why Page & Sage exists: One local 7 year old boy was noticeably sad and withdrawn and his teacher wasn't sure what to do. Ever since he started receiving a backpack his teacher says he smiles and his shoulders are straight. He now knows that someone cares and he'll have some food to eat at home.

The Tahoe Douglas Rotary Foundation is the 501(c)3 that Page & Sage operates through. A donation of $1,000 from Celebrity Golf in 2012 got this program started, then was followed by bags of food and cash donations from the Rotarians. In 2013, Celebrity Golf donated another $1,000 and the David Huntington Foundation donated $3,500. Local girl scouts did a holiday food drive to help out the program as well. The El Dorado Food Bank just became a partner and provides some of the food needed each week.

Each week's backpack of food contains 3 canned meals, such as ravioli and chili, 2 breakfasts, 2 fruits, 1 juice drink and 5 snacks. At times cheese and vegetables are added. All items are things the kids can prepare on their own if necessary and they don't require kitchens should one not be available. Each student also gets a reading level appropriate book. On the Friday before a school holiday the bags contain at least double the food items.

Sometimes we're able to pop in a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant and soap. At Christmas we gave a wrapped gift too!

We had grown out our original space so Temple Bat Yam graciously donated a back room for us to use for food and book storage and space to assemble the bags. The kids at the Temple are helping Rotarians put the bags together.

You can get more information on our website www.pageandsage.com, If you'd like to help, contact me at paula@southtahoenow.com.