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Filling kids' backpacks, stomachs with food before school halls empty for holidays

Second Harvest makes a push for donations to help feed kids over winter break.

Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee is pushing for donations to help feed more kids over winter break.

This year, its Food For Kids program will work with multiple schools throughout East Tennessee.

At Fulton High School, the hallways will soon be empty as students leave for winter break. For now, the lunchroom is full and so are the stomachs of students.

"So many of our students come to school everyday to eat," said Monica Smith-Albright, the student and family support coach at Fulton High School.

She said 100 percent of students at the school receive free lunch.

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"Some students come to school sick because they are hungry," Smith-Albright said.

Fulton High School started working with partners like Second Harvest to feed its students beyond the cafeteria.

"If we can have food for these children, then that's one less thing they have to worry about," Smith-Albright said. "They're going to be better students. They're going to be better folks in our community down the road."

Fulton is now sending students home with backpacks filled with food, filling them with nutritious and balanced foods. This will hopefully help students with learning in the classroom.

Last year, Fulton served about 12 students with the backpack program. That number nearly tripled this year with 35 students receiving food from the backpack program.

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As the hallways of Fulton empty out for winter break, school leaders don't want to send students home to an empty pantry.

"This is going to make a difference in the lives of our students and on parents' pockets as well, in trying to make sure that we're able to feed them," Smith-Albright said.

To help feed East Tennessee, the Second Harvest website has options on how to fight hunger.

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