The meeting room at MCL Restaurant in Upper Arlington was abuzz Thursday evening with volunteers moving and repacking chips, jelly, and goldfish crackers.
Jillian Doggett slides pieces of white bread into plastic baggies.
“We are making make-it-yourself peanut butter and jelly kits," Doggett explained.
The kits were part of five days of breakfasts, lunches and snacks the Tri-Village Packers sent home for 103 kids in Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington schools, and Trinity Catholic Elementary School.
Doggett and her husband always try to volunteer during the holidays. This time, Doggett, who has worked in schools and now works for an education nonprofit, is glad to specifically be helping kids in her own community who might otherwise go hungry.
“I know a lot of students especially rely on school for providing food. And over the holidays, it can provide a lot of anxiety for students knowing that they're not going to have their meals provided for them," Doggett said.
The Tri-Village Packers focus on the tri-village area of Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff. It's easy to think there isn't a need to address food insecurity in the affluent suburbs.
The U.S. Census Bureau lists the median income for an Upper Arlington household as more than $144,000.
About three percent of the residents, however, do fall below the poverty line.
“It's scary because those 3% are invisible," said Janie Jarrow, a member of the Tri-Village Lions Club and the organizer of the Tri-Village Packers.
Jarrow said a little less than 400 kids in Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington schools get free school lunches. She admits that’s not a lot compared to some 32,000 students in Columbus City Schools.
“But you know what? Those 400 kids from the tri-village schools, they're still hungry," Jarrow said. "And nobody else is going to notice them or do anything for them because it's such a small number.”
Jarrow said the area isn’t served by other food pantries because there simply isn’t enough need. So, the Tri-Village Packers came together as a group of neighbors. They’re not a formal nonprofit, and they rely on donations from the community, which Jarrow says have been plentiful.
The schools tell the Tri-Village Packers how many kids want take home meals. Families anonymously pick up the bags of shelf-stable foods. They also get a gift card to their grocery store of choice so they can buy fresh produce or dairy.
The Tri-Village Packers customize meals so they’re age appropriate and follow dietary restrictions. This Thanksgiving break, the volunteers made meals for about 30 kids who were kosher, lactose or gluten free, on halal diets, or under the age of two. Jarrow said the meals take extra research and careful preparation, but it's worth it.
“We wanted this to be about our friends, our neighbors, the people who are here. And we wanted to make sure that what they got was something they could use," Jarrow said.
Tri-Village Lions Club president Jan Kelley-Stafford worked at a separate table and made sandwich kits with gluten-free bread, honey instead of jam or fake peanut butter.
Kelley-Stafford said she isn’t surprised that there are hungry kids in her backyard. She was a teacher in the Upper Arlington school district.
“And so I was aware of those students who, even by the time they were in high school, were still food insecure," Kelley-Stafford said.
After all, teachers and staff know. Many buy snacks with their own money and keep them in their desks for kids who need them.
Kelley-Stafford says food insecurity isn’t always about income.
“There's addiction issues in this community, mental health issues that don't allow parents to get out and buy food that their children need," she said.
Experts report that hunger affects children’s ability to focus, learn and memorize.
That’s why the Tri-Village Packers, now some 80 volunteers strong, will send home meals again over spring break. They’ve also started providing “grab-and-go” meals with snacks like Pop Tarts and applesauce in Grandview schools.
Because, as Jarrow often says, you can't tell a hungry kid that you fed him yesterday.
