United Way packs Christmas gifts in snack bags for local children

WASILLA — United Way of Mat-Su staff and volunteers tucked special stocking stuffers inside their weekly shipment of snacks for local children across the Valley through a program called Meals for Mat-Su Littles.

Santa hat-wearing volunteers packed toys, hot cocoa packets, candy canes and other treats into each bag with holiday music playing in the background after receiving their shipment of food from Costco at The Salvation Army Mat-Su Corps Office in Palmer Wednesday, Dec. 23.

“So, any time we can, we’re gonna try to inject some additional fun and some little extras in there to kind of keep their spirits up as well,” United Way of Mat-Su Outreach Coordinator Michele Harmeling said.

United Way served over 400 Valley children this week, according to Harmeling. She said they distribute between $4,000 to $5,000 worth of food each week, offering snack items like instant oatmeal, crackers, and granola bars.

“We’re hearing from these daycares that the families are coming to rely on these. They’re just grateful to have that extra little boost of snacks for their kids and to keep the cupboards full,” Harmeling said.

The Meals for Mat-Su Littles Project aims to combat weekend food insecurity by providing food to local daycare age children. United Way distributes snacks to participating childcare facilities across the community, including CCS Early Learning, Mouse Trap Play School, and Bright Minds Learning Center.

“Daycares generally do breakfast and lunch, but when they’re closed, the kids aren’t getting that. These are kids who aren’t necessarily in public school, right? They’re too little… So they’re kind of slipping through the cracks a little bit,” Harmeling said.

United Way’s Early Childhood Partnership along with local volunteers and partners are banding together under a common cause to ensure that “little ones” across the Valley don’t go hungry, especially during the holidays and continuous stresses caused by COVID-19.

“Our hope is to continue it for as long as we can, as long as we have the volunteer power and the funding. The volunteer response has been just phenomenal. It only took us two hours to get through all of that, and that was 400 orders,” Harmeling said. “We’ve had repeat volunteers come in…There’s hope coming in from all corners. It’s going really, really smoothly, which is really nice.”

United Way’s Early Childhood Partnership is currently seeking volunteers to help assemble and deliver sack meals. People can also support the cause by donating prepackaged, individually wrapped snack items.

For more information, visit unitedwaymatsu.org/volunteer

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com