Kiwanis Club partners with NCHS Key Club, Food for Thought Project to prepare Christmas break food baskets

CASPER, Wyo. — In 2020, members of the Kiwanis Club of Casper were left in a strange predicament. Ever year for decades, the club presented a pancake breakfast — both as a thank you to the community and as a way to raise money for its various programs and projects.

However, something happened in 2020 that put plans for the breakfast on hold.

“Covid happened,” said Kiwanis member Karen Ewart. “We have our annual pancake breakfast in March, but because Covid happened, everything was shut down. So, we had raised money in the community to provide this breakfast, but then we couldn’t offer it to the community at large.”

It was a good problem to have — having money but not being able to spend it — but it was still a problem nonetheless. They came up with a solution, eventually, and it was a solution that ended up fitting perfectly within the overall mission of the Kiwanis Club.

“Kids need adults who care,” the Kiwanis Club website states. “All around the world — and in communities like yours — Kiwanis International is serving the kids who need us most.” So, when a problem came up for Casper’s club, the solution was an easy one: spend the money helping kids.

And that’s exactly what they did. The Kiwanis Club partnered with the Wyoming Food for Thought Project to prepare pancake breakfast baskets for students in the Natrona County School District who experience food insecurity.

“Having a good breakfast is critical to learning,” said Jennifer Cole, president of the Kiwanis Club. “I’ve been a teacher in the past, and when you see the children that are in need, you can see that the focus isn’t there. Their primary needs aren’t being met, so they’re not going to be able to focus on their education. So to be able to help, even when these kids aren’t in school, it’s huge.”

The breakfast baskets are designed to help feed students during the winter break, and the project was a collaboration between three different entities — all of which are dedicated to making sure that Natrona County’s kids don’t go hungry.

“Its nice to feed people,” said Brandy Teague, executive director of the Wyoming Food for Thought Project. “But it’s especially nice to be able to feed kids that maybe don’t have a voice and don’t get to advocate for themselves or speak about whatever given situation they’re in. It’s nice to be able to fill the gap during the break and help out however we can.”

Teague said that the best part of the job, besides providing food for people, is being able to partner with other Natrona County–based organizations who have similar goals and missions.

“It’s actually my favorite part of the job,” Teague said. “I’ve always loved how much Wyoming Food for Thought brings the community together. We have people come in all the time to help us out. We have a staff of two, and the rest are all volunteers. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the help from our various partners.”

One of those partners is the Natrona County High School Key Club. The NCHS Key Club had been put on hold for a number of years after the club’s faculty sponsor retired, but this year, one of NC’s campus supervisors, Mary Ann Chavez, volunteered to sponsor it, and the Key Club wasted no time in giving back to the community.

“Key Club is all about volunteering in the community,” Chavez stated. “This is actually our first year doing Key Club at NC. For a number of years, we haven’t had one. But we started it this year and we already have over 25 kids involved. This is the second event that we’ve done and we’ve brought in so many volunteers that it all just goes so fast. I’ll tell the kids we have three hours to do something, and then we’ll be done in like 20 minutes.”

At this event in particular, as soon as the students came into the room, they got to work. There were laughter, smiles and a jovial nature throughout the few hours it took, but they never forgot why they were there or what they were doing.

The NCHS Key Club and members of the Kiwanis Club worked in tandem, filling baskets with pancake mix and other breakfast items. The Wyoming Food for Thought Project is offering lunch baskets as well for students, in an effort to make sure that nobody is food insecure over the winter break.

“We’re covering meals for a 16-day period of the winter break, for those kids who might not have access to consistent meals and snacks,” Teague said. “The pancake mix will cover a lot of the breakfast portion of that, but we’ll also be packing 16 days’ worth of lunches of snacks, with things like ravioli, soup, mac and cheese, ramen and things like that.”

It’s not just time that the Kiwanis Club gave to the Food for Thought Project, either. “The Kiwanis Club’s help is huge,” Teague shared. “We spend about $100,000 a year on food. And so to have the club help supplement some of the food is awesome. They also gave us a donation of a thousand dollars.”

The day itself was a perfect representation of the spirit of Natrona County and the various organizations within it; especially with its young people.

“This really makes my heart happy,” Chavez shared. “With my job, I deal with a lot of behavior issues at the school, so it’s really nice to be able to step outside of that and see some really good kids doing really good things; not only in the school, but in the community.”

Between the efforts of the Kiwanis Club, the NCHS Key Club and the Wyoming Food for Thought Project — plus additional help the prior day from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming — hundreds of food baskets were prepared to ensure Natrona County’s kids don’t go hungry.

“My father was a member of the Kiwanis Club for over 40 years,” Jones shared. “As a child, I was given the opportunity to see what it felt like to give back to your community, to be aware of the needs of others. That’s what we try to do. People like Karen and the members who have been here for so long — they’re amazing. They do everything for this club. They’ve put their hearts and souls into it, and it’s just cool to hang out with people like that.”

For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Casper or to find out how to join, follow it on Facebook. To find out more about the Wyoming Food for Thought Project or to volunteer, visit its website.