NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Margot Zukowski filled up another bag with food and sent it off for delivery. The package includes food for breakfast, lunch, and snacks to get kids through the weekend.
She knows what it's like to worry about feeding your children.
“Just not being able to provide for them is embarrassing for the parents," said Zukowski.
Margot was one of those parents a few years ago when she and her husband went through some tough times.
“I didn’t know what we were going to do. For us to get on any kind of assistance it was going to take at least a few more weeks," said Zukowski.
So she turned to a Pasco County nonprofit that helps those in need called One Community Now. One of its programs is called Pack-a-Sack and it sends food home with kids for the weekend when they aren’t able to get free breakfast and lunch at school.
“And that way when they come back to school on Monday they aren’t starving and they aren’t so distracted. So it’s a program that just helps the kids so they can focus on their education and staying healthy," said One Community Now executive director Patty Templeton.
After getting help from One Community Now, Margot started volunteering and now she’s actually working for them, coordinating the same Pack-a-Sack program that meant so much to her family.
“The fear of not knowing how you are going to feed your kids is something that a lot of people don’t have to worry about so I was super aware that peanut butter and jelly and Ramen noodles were going to be all they were going to eat for a while," said Zukowski.
The program helps 1,300 kids in West Pasco County and Saturday’s Hunger Walk Event will help raise money to serve even more children. It's at Sims Park in New Port Richey beginning at 10 a.m.
For more information, click here.
