When students hear the bell ring at 3 p.m., it signals the end of the school day and, for many, the start of an afternoon without supervision, without productive activities and without that after school snack that many of us enjoyed as a child.  

 

Childhood hunger affects everyone. Even mild levels of malnutrition can impair a child's ability to learn. For school children, missing meals diminishes the ability to recall and use newly acquired information, verbal fluency, and control of attention, all of which have a negative impact on a child's ability to learn, decreases self-esteem, and contributes to performance problems.

 

Many afterschool programs already feed students, using money from their own budgets because they recognize that for many students, lunch is a distant memory and they may not get an adequate dinner at home. Evidence suggests that by providing meals, programs realize an increase in attendance and improvements in student behavior.

 

Not every afterschool program has the budget to offer after school snacks. Snack in a Sak was created to help fill the void.