With school back in session, we’re once again greeted with the sight of hundreds of Send Hunger Packing bags ready to go out to our school partners each week. Those bags – filled with a variety of food that students in our community can take home for the weekend – remind us of kids like Yamili.

Yamili is an elementary school student who loves to draw. “Whenever I get stressed, I like drawing, because it calms me,” she told us. While art makes her feel good, she also knows the importance of having a good breakfast every day. “When I’m able to eat breakfast, it makes me feel energized… breakfast is the most important meal. And if I don’t eat it, like I’m really tired.”

Each Friday, during the school year, Yamili takes home a Send Hunger Packing bag to share with her siblings and her mom. “There’s cereal, and cans – like fruits and vegetables. We also get canned green beans and peaches,” she said. But what does she like the most? “The chocolate cereal!”

Knowing that the food bags come from “kind people” makes her happy. “It means a lot to me how people help out other people because some people have to jump place to place because they don’t have a roof over their head, or they don’t have a full stomach, or they barely even eat food because they don’t have enough money – and I think it’s really kind of you guys to do that. Because then it makes a kid’s life better because they have memories of a full stomach going to bed or because they have food to eat.”

Yamili dreams of becoming an artist or a makeup artist when she’s older. On top of that, she says she also feels inspired to be the type of person who is kind and can help others when they need it.