First Lady serves in Food 4 Kids lunch line

WASILLA — The children going through the lunch line at Newcomb Park know the drill.

Start from the right side of the table, scrub your hands and then get in line for the day’s sack lunch.

What the nearly 100 children going through the Food 4 Kids lunch line July 15 didn’t know was that the grandmotherly woman who smiled sweetly as she passed them their bag lunches was Alaska’s First Lady Donna Walker.

“This is just what I love to do,” Walker said of volunteering for the food program. “If there is something I can do to help, that’s my preference.”

Food 4 Kids provides free lunches and breakfasts to Mat-Su Borough youth younger than 18 at 16 sites around the Valley — from Sutton to Trapper Creek — through Aug. 15.

Walker said she the food program was one of three Valley non-profits that received a portion of the funds remaining from the eight inaugural balls hosted by communities around the state. When all the bills were paid, the $90,000 remaining from ticket sales and charitable donations was deposited into the First Lady’s Charitable Contributions Fund.

Of that, the First Lady shared more than $5,200 with three Mat-Su Borough non-profits: MY House, $2,500; Mat-Su Food Bank, $1,611.44; and Food 4 Kids, $1,161.44.

Walker said she was back in the Valley Wednesday to see the youth food program for herself. The program served more than 60,000 meals to Valley kids last year, according to Food 4 Kids executive director Lynette Ortolano. The program serves about 8,000 meals at Newcomb Park annually, she said.

“It was such a pleasure to have her come out and meet our kids and families who eat lunch with us,” Ortolano said.

Country Legends and Janssen Funeral Homes million-penny fund-raiser, which began May 20, is about a third of the way — 380,000 pennies — to its goal, Ortolano said.

The drive is set to end in mid-August. Find the donation jug at Lowe’s on Friday, or drop donations off at the Wasilla Food Pantry at 501 E Bogard Road.

Food 4 Kids locations:

• Wasilla Boys and Girls Club, 3700 E. Bogard Rd., Wasilla

Monday through Friday

10:30 a.m. — breakfast

2 p.m. — lunch

• Blood & Fire Ministries, 7362 W. Parks Highway, Ste. 276, Wasilla

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

3 p.m. — lunch

• Food Pantry of Wasilla, 501 E. Bogard Rd., Wasilla

Monday – Friday

Noon — lunch

• Newcomb Park, Parks Highway and Crusey St., Wasilla

Monday-Friday

Noon — lunch

• Houston Fire Dept, 57 Parks Highway No. 4, Houston

Monday-Friday

Noon — lunch

• Sutton Library, 11301 N. Chickaloon Way, Sutton

Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Noon — lunch

• Big Lake library, 3140 S Big Lake Rd., Big Lake

Monday-Friday

Noon — lunch

• Willow Food Pantry, Mile 67.8 Parks Hwy, Willow

Wednesdays

1 p.m. — lunch

• Willow Community Center, Mile 69 Parks Hwy, Willow

Thursdays

1 p.m. — lunch

• Northridge Terrace Apartments, 505 Dogwood Ave., Palmer

Monday-Friday

1:30-2 p.m. — lunch

• John Bugge Park, Cobb St., Palmer

Monday-Friday

2:30-3 p.m. — Lunch

For more information, or to volunteer, contact lmortolano@matsufoodbank.org.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com