AKA Partners with Local Supermarkets to Combat Childhood Hunger

Sorority members helped pack more than 150 CHIPP packs during last year’s program launch on St. Croix. (Submitted photo)

A partnership with Cost U Less and the Market has enabled the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority to launch a distribution program on St. Croix that offers free meals to elementary and middle school students on weekends and extended holidays.

Launched last school year within the territory, the sorority’s national Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack program is meant to increase students’ access to nutritious food. For the 2022-2023 school year on St. Croix, more than 150 packs – containing snacks, along with breakfast and lunch – were assembled and distributed to participating schools.

With Cost U Less and the Market already committed to hosting food drives again for this year, members of AKA’s Mu Gamma Omega chapter have begun reaching out to the community for help in getting the word out for schools to enroll in the program. Funds for the initiative are allotted through the sorority, and volunteers are ready to get to work, according to organizers.

Mu Gamma Omega was recognized and honored in July by AKA’s international region for its implementation of the program.

To find out more information on how to enroll your child through their school, email program chair Desiree Ross at dross1908@gmail.com.