During the academic year, many Native American children rely on school-provided meals to stay nourished throughout the day. But on the weekends – when these services aren’t available – students often struggle to find enough to eat.
However, our Smart Sacks program, which provides food-filled backpacks to children over weekends, is a testament to the urgent need for food assistance and the positive impact it has on these young lives at three schools serving primarily Native American students.
This school year, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® is working to ensure that hundreds of students at the Keshena Primary School on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, and the Takini School on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota do not go hungry over the weekends.
At the Wakpala School on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, the school’s pantry is assembling and distributing thousands of food boxes to students and their families. “They can come in and fill a box with what they need every Friday or schedule a drop-in time or delivery,” states Running Strong Executive Director Sydney Mills Farhang.
Through our Smart Sacks program, at the end of each week, we provide hundreds of Takini and Menominee students with bags filled with nonperishable food items, enough to feed a family of four for the weekend, and food boxes for Wakpala students and families. This way, students do not arrive at school on Monday morning hungry because they have not had a full meal since their school lunch on Friday. For this academic year, we are planning to distribute over 25,000 Smart Sacks at the three reservation schools.
Update from Last Year
In 2025, Running Strong distributed 5,760 Smart Sacks at the Takini School, 13,500 Smart Sacks to the Keshena Primary School, and 5,068 twenty-pound Food Boxes to families on the Standing Rock Reservation through the Wakpala School Pantry.
At the Wakpala School, Samantha Yellow Fat, a social worker at the school and a 2015 Running Strong Dreamstarter, reported in July 2024 that menu items included hot and cold cereals and oatmeal, soups, vegetables, beef, chicken, ham, pizza, water, etc.
“The meat (beef, chicken, ham) bundles were greatly appreciated,” she stated. “Families had more access to the food pantry during school and after-school events.”
Goals for This Year
Midway through this academic year, we are halfway through our goal of distributing 13,500 Smart Sacks at the Keshena school, 7,500 at the Takini School, and 5,792 food boxes to students and their families at the Wakpala School pantry.
