When schools are closed, Lovepacs steps in to ensure children struggling with food insecurity can have access to meals. The Plano chapter of Lovepacs started in 2016 as a class project for Leadership Plano, Class 33 as a community service organization. Four years ago, Plano Chapter Co-Leader Mimi Conner came in to expand the reach of Lovepacs in the community.

“I was asked to join the Lovepacs Team to rebuild the Plano Chapter, increase awareness and provide our services to all schools,” Conner said.

Lovepacs is a food pantry that provides meal access to children and families enrolled in Plano schools when school is out. Each child in need receives one box with non-perishable items to ensure they do not go hungry during the breaks in the school year. Lovepacs provides one box at Thanksgiving, two boxes at winter break and one box during spring break. Each box, which is decorated by and contains a personalized note from Lovepacs Volunteers, feeds one to two students for five to seven days, depending on the age of the child.

Lovepacs, which partners with Plano ISD schools, gives families the ability to opt in to the service through social workers or school counselors. For privacy reasons, the boxes are not delivered directly by individuals at Lovepacs. Instead, parents can pick up the boxes from school or have the boxes brought home through a Lovepacs partnership with the local fire department. Because some families cannot get to school to pick up boxes, Lovepacs can also deliver to homes upon request with parental permission.

Conner said the partnership with PISD is special and unique.

“We work directly with the schools and have built a wonderful relationship with them,” Conner said. “We have the ability to meet their needs, whether it’s a family in crisis, students away for the holidays or keeping snacks in [school] offices for when a child just needs something more in their belly.”

When Conner started, she and her team worked out of her home the first year she was the Chapter Lead to put together 400 boxes for the holidays. Last year, Lovepacs packed over 5,000 boxes and is projected to pack 7,500 boxes for the 2022-2023 school year.

For the upcoming 2022-23 school year, Lovepacs has big goals to meet the rising demand for boxes; the organization is aiming to raise $250,000 by Aug. 31. One of the organization's initiatives is its “Fill The Truck” campaign. At the truckload event, participants will help Lovepacs through both food product donations and monetary donations.

“It’s a two-process campaign,” Conner said. “We need money to fill the truck to bring the product to the Lovepacs food pantry, and when we buy in bulk, we can save a lot of money.”

Conner said Lovepacs needs both volunteers and monetary donations to meet this year’s goals. One thousand dollars is the equivalent of 30 boxes, and Conner said the organization is actively looking for corporations and individuals who can donate $1000 or more and become a partner to help our students with food insecurities.

As the number of children the organization is serving increases, Lovepacs is seeking to increase its number of corporate partnerships. For corporations seeking a partnership with Lovepacs, contact Conner directly at [email protected].

"We understand that in order for students and children to be successful, they have to have good nutrition,” Conner said. “We want to be able to feed these great brains so that they become our future leaders of tomorrow.”

As part of the Fill The Truck Campaign, Plano ISD is sponsoring a Back To School box event on July 25, where Lovepacs is donating 1000 boxes to help students start their school year off on a healthy track. After the event, Lovepacs will jump right in to begin preparing the 6500 boxes needed for when schools are closed including Thanksgiving, winter break and spring break. To donate to Lovepacs, visit the donation page here. For more information on Lovepacs Plano, visit the website here.

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