What began as help for families following Hurricane Helene has become a weekly routine at two Polk County elementary schools.
Each Tuesday, Go Easy Ministries delivers food bags to Polk Central Elementary and Sunny View Elementary for students and families who have signed up to receive them.
Polk Central typically receives 105 to 110 bags each week. Sunny View receives about 25.
The numbers have remained consistent since the ministry began helping families following the 2024 hurricane, extending what started as storm relief into ongoing support for roughly 130 Polk County students and their families each week.
Before the bags reach the schools, volunteers help prepare them during “packing parties” at Go Easy Ministries’ facility in Campobello.
The contents vary from week to week, but bags typically include kid-friendly foods such as crackers, granola and Nutri-Grain bars, oatmeal, applesauce pouches, chips, ramen, canned pasta, breakfast shakes and beef sticks.
At Polk Central, school counselor Ashley Bell helps distribute the bags to participating students and families.
“Our students look forward to receiving the bags knowing they have snacks to last them throughout the week and weekend,” Bell said.
Sunny View follows a similar process, with bags distributed at school after the Tuesday delivery. School staff say students also look forward to seeing what arrives each week.
The partnership began when Go Easy Ministries expanded its community outreach following Hurricane Helene. Founded in 2021 by Randy and Gretchen McQuinn (pictured above), the faith-based ministry initially focused on helping young men transition into independent adulthood.
After the storm, its work expanded to address food needs among local families.
That emergency response has continued well beyond the immediate aftermath.
For Polk Central and Sunny View, the result is now a familiar weekly cycle: community volunteers pack the bags, Go Easy Ministries delivers them and school employees make sure they reach the students and families who need them.
Monica Barber, school counselor at Sunny View, described the ministry’s continued support simply: “They are a blessing to us here at Sunny View.”
What began as hurricane relief has become an ongoing community partnership, one that continues putting food into students’ hands every week.
