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City officials pitch in to assemble meal packs for hungry children during KLC Conference in NKY


City officials volunteered this week to assemble meal packs for children in need. The event was part of the 2019 KLC Conference & Expo at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington.
 
This is the third year the Kentucky League of Cities has teamed up with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Hunger Initiative. Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles thanked city officials for their commitment to the program that aims to eradicate hunger in Kentucky communities. “It’s an unfortunate reality that hunger exists in every city, county and community in Kentucky,” he said. Commissioner Quarles pointed out that one in six Kentuckians, including one in five Kentucky schoolchildren, is food insecure.


At Thursday’s event he announced the state is making progress in the effort to combat the problem. Since the Department of Agriculture began the Hunger Initiative, food insecurity in the state has slightly decreased.

However, Commissioner Quarles added, “We have a long way to go when we have 16% of our population facing food insecurity at some point throughout the year.”
 
Close to 1,000 take-home food packs were assembled Thursday by city leaders. The powerpacks will be distributed to schools in the Northern Kentucky region in conjunction with Feeding Kentucky and the Freestore Foodbank.

The only meal some students receive is at school, and the kits aim to help supplement that with food they can take home for nights and weekends. The kits contain snacks, juice and other nonperishable, nutritional items.
 
KLC President and Jeffersontown Mayor Bill Dieruf called the event an example of cities working together to improve communities. “Hunger in our state is something that many times people don’t see, because they’re not a party to it, but it’s all around us,” he stated.
 
“We are grateful to the dozens of city officials and state leaders who volunteer to get up early every year to take part in this event,” said KLC Deputy Executive Director J.D. Chaney. “It is humbling to see everyone ready and willing to roll up their sleeves and do what they can to tackle this problem. It is an issue in many of our communities, and KLC is proud to work with Commissioner Quarles and the Hunger Initiative to help ensure some of our youngest citizens don’t go without.” 


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