$500,000 set aside for snacks after school

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council is expected to approve Wednesday a request for more than a half-million dollars for its Department of Leisure Services to buy healthy snacks for an elementary after-school care program.

The request for $504,000 is on the consent agenda -- a large group of items considered routine and approved with a single vote. Approval will allow Leisure Services to pay the Clark County School District for Safekey snacks through July 31. The money will come from the general fund.

Safekey, which also has programs in Clark County, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City, provides a supervised, in-school program for children until 6 p.m. The families pay a nominal fee.

There are 59 schools in the Las Vegas city limits that will receive money to feed an estimated 2,400 children two snacks each per day.

The snacks, served at 3 p.m., are purchased under a Clark County School District contract for 69 cents apiece. They include cheese crackers, milk, juice, raisins and yogurt, said Stacy Allsbrook, spokeswoman for the city's Leisure Services Department that oversees the Safekey program in city schools.

"The snack is important, because it gives the children something in their bellies several hours before they would get dinner at home," Allsbrook said. "In the Safekey program they also get help with their homework and supervised activities until their parents can come to pick them up."

The city and other entities that participate in the program eventually get about 10 percent of their investments back in the form of state grants. The grants pay between 5 and 56 cents per snack, depending on the average income status of families in the program at each school.

At schools in the poorest neighborhoods, the city will wind up spending about 13 cents per snack after factoring in the grant reimbursement.

The city approved the state reimbursement offer in September, Allsbrook said.