In coordination with the Sauk Prairie Area Food Pantry, the School Break Meal Program aims to help families who may experience a shortage of food over school breaks, such as Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break. The SBMP food boxes include shelf-safe food and produce. Due to the amount of food provided, these items cannot go home with students who ride the bus or walk home.  Watch your email for sign up forms that are sent out three to four weeks prior to breaks.

At SPMS, we keep a pantry full of personal hygiene products, shelf stable food and snacks, clothing, and winter gear. If you need help meeting your child or your family's basic needs, please reach out to me to plan how to pick items up or have them sent home with your student.

Would you like to donate to our pantry? Right now we are in need of:

• tampons (variety of sizes)

• granola bars

• towels/washcloths

• blankets

• fidgets/putty

• 2 pocket folders

• pencil cases that clip into a 3-ring binder

• divider sheets/folders for 3-ring binders.

• pencils

• colored pencils

• dry erase markers

Families In Transition (Homeless)

Students and/or families that find themselves homeless at anytime are encouraged to report this to a school social worker, or other student services staff member, so that we can help by providing pointed support during a stressful, difficult time. Our district's homeless liaison is Erica Lehr-Reuber, the School Social Worker at Merrimac and Bridges. If you would like to reach out to her directly with questions, her number is 608-285-2510.

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines homeless children and youths as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The term "homeless children and youths" includes children and youths who are:

• sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason;

• living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations;

• living in emergency or transitional shelters;

• abandoned in hospitals;

• living in a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designated for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

• living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and/or

• migratory children living in any of the circumstances described above (42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2)).

Source: https://dpi.wi.gov/homeless/guidance

If your family is staying in these living situations, your children have the right to receive extra services and supports in school under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. These include:

• Staying in the same school, even if you move, and receiving free transportation to and from that school if it is in your best educational interest to stay

• Immediate enrollment, even if you don’t have the documents that are typically required for enrollment

• Receiving free school meals

• Connecting younger children to early childhood services

• College readiness assistance for high school students

• Referrals to the community for help with other needs