The struggle is very real. The issue is too important. The stakes are way too high.

In Conestoga Valley, childhood nutrition can't be a part-time pursuit. Through its Weekend Blessings program, Conestoga Valley Christian Community Services (CVCCS) wants to fill gaps in food security and ensure that no local kid ever goes hungry.

"Children are made in the image of God, they're special and they deserve an opportunity to thrive in life," said CVCCS executive director Jon Barrett. "Food is a basic element in that. If kids are hungry, it's going to affect them in every way. You can't fix every problem. But this is a small way to attack (the child food insecurity) problem. We want to help in a tangible way, with food. A lot of these kids get their food in school."

CVCCS' Weekend Blessings program provides food - two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and snacks - for qualified, low-income individuals in kindergarten through grade 12 in the Conestoga Valley School District. The food items - mainly easy-to-prepare meals - are gathered and bundled by volunteers at CVCCS, 2420 Gehman Lane, Lancaster, and transported to the six buildings in the school district, where they are distributed to the kids by guidance counselors on Fridays during the school year.

"Things have changed," said Barrett. "With the rise of single-parent households, sometimes kids are having to fend for themselves. They don't have the use of stoves, so a lot of the food is microwaveable. It has to be something they can make for themselves. It's easy-to-make meals, and it allows them to have sustenance over the weekend."

There are currently more than 100 Conestoga Valley students receiving food through the Weekend Blessings program, many of whom get free or reduced-priced meals during the school week.

"To be able to have food, it's not a right, it's not guaranteed," said Barrett. "People are fighting with hunger issues in our country, and a lot of it is rural. Seventy percent of Lancaster County poverty is outside the city. A lot of communities in the county have something like this associated with them. The proof is in the numbers. When students sign up with their guidance counselors, it allows us to gauge the need."

CVCCS is currently accepting donations of food and money for its Weekend Blessings program. The program is in need of items like Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs, canned soups, ramen noodles, fruit cups and Hormel prepackaged meals, and a complete wish list of Weekend Blessings items can be found at http://www.cvccs.org.

"We would love any donations," said Barrett. "We are constantly out of stuff, and we find ourselves making grocery store trips. As the price of food has gone up, so has our demand. As grocery prices have gone up, families are having a hard time feeding themselves. We need our community to be involved and help support it. We need help, and it's all year. It's more than a drive once a year."

CVCCS also sponsors a food bank, a clothing bank, a summer lunch program for students, spiritual meetings, adult mentorship programs and financial counseling and literary programs. The Weekend Blessings program was founded not long after CVCCS moved into its current building in 2014.

"This problem isn't going anywhere," said Barrett. "This program isn't aimed at eliminating this issue because there is no way it can be. It's a sustainability kind of thing."