School breaks put extra strain on struggling families

Food stamps usually run out about halfway through the month, explained Pat Falvey, vice president for development at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, 1501 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Food pantries such as Catholic Charities’ usually see an influx during that time.

Carmen Campos is the mother of four sons and lives in a family member’s house for the time being. Sons Juan, 9, and Brayant, 8, attend Earl Elementary School at 1463 Marion Drive in the Sunrise area. They are on the free and reduced lunch program, as are 55 percent of students in the school district. At Catholic Charities, Campos brings her two sons to help carry bags of food back home for the family.

“It was so difficult this month,” Campos said, as translated by her sons.

Catholic Charities provides food to about 6,000 families each month. That number has increased by about 2,000 since a year ago. They also see temporary increases during the winter, spring and summer breaks.

A shortened school year for former 12-month schools also has added stress to some families. Joy Ruby, a teacher at Squires Elementary School, 1312 E. Tonopah Ave. in North Las Vegas, said her school serves dinner to about 300 students daily.

“The hardest thing is this long break and going from 12 months to nine months,” Ruby said. “We’re concerned these kids will go hungry. You can only do so much.”

On school days, Three Square food bank provides after-school meals at 25 schools as part of its Kids Café program. It started in 2009 with about 475 meals a day and now serves more than 2,500 meals.

Three Square also provides weekend food for 220 schools as part of its BackPack for Kids program. The BackPack program started in 2008 with 300 bags of food at 10 schools and is up to nearly 8,000 bags each week.

The food that Juan and Brayant bring home every weekend — cereal, green beans, crackers and more — is essential to the family, Campos said.

Jennifer Conte, a mother of three, visited the food pantry at Catholic Charities on Dec. 30, her daughter’s birthday, hoping to get a cake for her youngest daughter, 3-year-old Hailey. Conte receives food stamps but said they had run out at this point in the month.

“This last week has been horrendous,” Conte said. “Since they’ve been home for the last week and a half, we’ve gone through three times as much food, which is why we’re out here at the end of the month.”

Conte sells newspapers part time and said it is the only work she has been able to get. She rents an apartment on Koval Lane behind the MGM Grand.

Silas, 9, and Ivy, 7, attend Paradise Elementary School, 900 Cottage Grove Ave., and receive breakfast, lunch and dinner there.

“I’m excited for them to get back in school for that reason,” Conte said. “Without that, I don’t know what we’d do.”

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.