VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Dozens of volunteers came together to make sure kids in Virginia Beach have enough to eat. They packed food into thousands of bags Thursday night.
It's part of the district's Beach Bag program.
At least 70 volunteers quickly packed as many as 2,500 bags at Corporate Landing Middle School in Virginia Beach.
"It's a beautiful chaos," said Catherine Milonas, who was helping to pack bags. "Everyone's running. Everyone's trying to fill their bags as quickly as possible."
The Thalia Lions Club hosted the event. The club got a grant of $10,00 to purchase the food.
The food will all go to the school district's distribution center. From there, it'll go to kids all over the school system.
Over the years, the needs for programs like Beach Bags has only increased.
"For a school district in Virginia Beach, people don't realize, it has a high free reduced lunch rate of 46 percent. We have 65,000 students, so you do the math," said Debbie Hughes, the education foundation coordinator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. "We really have a need, but an increase in price, so the demand is huge."
Just two years ago, the district said it handed out a little more than 19,000 bags through the program. Last year, it more than doubled, giving out at least 41,000 bags.
"The students come in, asking for their bags," Hughes said.
Volunteers, like Milonas, said it was fulfilling and a blessing to be part of an event like this one.
"We probably bagged at least 250 bags," she said. "If I could do this once a month, I would."
