Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Diana Smith, a preschool teacher at Highland Park Elementary School, puts snack bags in cubbies for students who have been identified as needing a little extra food. Each week a team of teachers and volunteers from eight churches that have banded together to form Congregations in Action distribute donated food to 65 students.

Highland Park Elementary School teachers Diana Smith (left), Beverly Honaker and Kathy Shaw pack food Thursday for students for their weekend snacks. The students also got much larger snack bags Friday afternoon to provide a little more nutrition over spring break.

Highland Park Elementary School teacher Kathy Shaw keeps records about food distribution for the students who receive a few extra snacks to take home each week.

When the end of the school day arrives on Friday afternoons at Highland Park Elementary School in Roanoke, the excitement isn't just about the weekend -- but also the bags full of donated snacks that 25 percent of the 212 students will take home.

"They really look forward to the announcement on the intercom that the snacks are ready," said Beth Honaker, who teaches fifth grade and volunteers on Thursdays to bag such items as Lay's Cheese of Wheat Crackers and Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. Some children assure her of their self-sufficiency.

"They say not to worry about giving them food that needs heating," she said. " 'I can cook in a microwave,' they say."

The provisions are part of a growing mission effort aimed at children from low-income families started in 2004 by eight Roanoke congregations known as Congregations in Action. They began with a handful of good Samaritans who stepped forward to mentor, tutor or just sit with kids during the school lunch hour so teachers could take a break. Now the group boasts legions of faithful who provide take-home snacks for all the Highland Park Elementary students who want them.

On Friday, the group's largesse filled bigger bags, holding about 40 items, to supply needy recipients through spring break until they return to class on March 31.

Additional congregations, having learned of the Highland Park Elementary operation, are following Congregations in Action in an expanding effort that currently covers five of Roanoke's 21 elementary schools.

And more congregations, including St. John Lutheran in Southwest Roanoke County, are looking into helping city institutions such as Hurt Park Elementary School.

A memo to the St. John Lutheran congregation being circulated by Patty Hinkel, a member trying to organize volunteers, states, "What an incredible opportunity for us to 'Walk the Talk' at Hurt Park Elementary School, and it's only 15 minutes from our door." The flier adds, "You can prepare a great pot of soup, or some sandwiches" for teachers who "are giving their all to educate some little ones not as fortunate as some of ours."

So impressed with the effect of the congregations' outreach is Babette Cribbs, principal at Raleigh Court Elementary, that instead of waiting for volunteers to step forward, she recruited several congregations to help form a group called Community in Action.

"We sent letters to several churches, and they started in January with mentoring and tutoring. Now we're creating a 'Pack-a-Snack' program that will take effect soon thanks to $700 from one donor."

The congregations that joined Cribbs are also volunteering at Virginia Heights Elementary and Grandin Court Elementary, she said.

Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church has started an individual take-home snack program at Hurt Park Elementary.

"We're very pleased and thankful for the church's help," said Carlton Bell, the principal. "And we're meeting with them after spring break to discuss their ideas to expand the program. They want to do more."

This rising tide of volunteerism is the ripple effect of an experimental partnership formed in 2004 by the eight members of Congregations in Action, led by the Rev. Tim Harvey, pastor of Central Church of the Brethren. "All of us, the churches and school faculty, have the same belief that children shouldn't be hungry when they aren't in school."

The group picked Highland Park Elementary as its first priority because the needs there seem so severe. Nearly two-thirds of the students at the school qualify for free or reduced price lunches, according to the Virginia Department of Education. What's more, Highland Park Elementary attracts little parental involvement; its parent-teacher association currently has only a half-dozen active members, said Principal Debbie Doss.

Thus unlike schools where heavy parental involvement boosts lucrative fundraising events, Doss said, "We never have a festival. We don't have enough parents who want to help put on that sort of thing."

Doss and Harvey have prepared a slide show that explains how Congregations in Action works and gives tips on how to start similar programs.

David Carson, chairman of the Roanoke School Board, is recommending the presentation to other elementary schools, while Harvey is offering it to more congregations.

"This is a gleaming example of community involvement and investment," Carson said. "I think it could be adopted by other churches and also by such groups as civic clubs."

How broadly can this sort of school adoption be effective?

"I'd like to see it in all our elementary schools and expanded all the way to high schools. It doesn't always have include food donations, or be cash-intensive at all," Carson said. "Just sitting down with kids to read can be so important. Or even just coming in and sitting down with an elementary school class while the teachers gets a chance to have lunch away from their desks and recharge -- that could be really valuable."

Volunteers such as Debbie Brown, a member of Greene Memorial Methodist Church, have found personal rewards in helping pack snack bags at Highland Park Elementary.

"I didn't understand the need," she said, "until I starting coming over here, talking with the teachers and seeing the children for myself."