Spending too much time watching volunteers pack food for the Good Samaritan Hunger Center’s Children’s Bag Project can make you dizzy. 

In the gymnasium of the Diocese of San Sebastian, Akron, there are tables in a circle. Each table has a different kind of non-perishable food. On Wednesday night twice a month, for more than an hour, dozens of volunteers grabbed a black plastic bag, or two or three, and moved it clockwise in a fast manner, clutching a bowl of cereal, canned soup, and a bag. Bags of noodles and anything else will feed more than 2,400 Akron children that day. 

Then arrange the bags neatly into 11 groups, one group for each school, and receive pre-packaged bags from the plan. 

"Each bag represents a hungry child," said Michel Smith, executive director of Good Samaritan. 

The Kids Bag Program was recently named one of 24 organizations, which received a total of $40,300 in grants through the Millennium Children’s Fund (a partnership between Beacon Journal and the Akron Community Foundation).

More: STARS program celebrates achievements in nurturing youth and wins grants from the Millennium Fund

The $2,000 received by the organization will be used to cover food distribution costs for approximately one month. 

Good Samaritan has been in Akron for nearly 40 years, but in 2017, a school started a plan to send food home with students to spend the weekend.

When the pandemic hit, it expanded to six schools.

"This fall, several schools want to know how they are involved," Smith said. 

The program now provides services to 12 schools. One school’s schoolbags are packed on-site, and the other 11 schools’ schoolbags are packed in the church in advance. The schools involved are public and private.

If the school serves elementary or middle school students, every child in the building will receive a bag of food. If the high school participates in the program, students can take school bags home as needed. 

Smith said she would like to further expand the plan, but this requires additional funding.

The food available varies, but Smith ensures that every child has two servings of breakfast, lunch, snacks and fruit. She got some food for free through Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank and other donations, but bought most of the food for the children.

Smith said that she often asks people to throw an extra large item in Costco or Sam's Club shopping carts, which is always non-perishable, to help pay for her expenses and provide children with more choices.

Donations can be delivered to St. Sebastian's Byrider Hall at 420 S. Hawkins from 9 am to noon from Monday to Friday. 

"My thing is, I can't bear to hear the kids are hungry," Smith said. "So if I can find a way to feed them, I will." 

If the family needs extra help, Good Samaritan has other pick-up points in the city. More information is available on the organization's website, goodsamaritanhungercenter.org. 

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3216 or Twitter @JenPignolet.