HERMISTON — A local organization is putting together family care kits for families in need, reaching all across Eastern Oregon.

The kits, put together and organized by the Umatilla Morrow County Head Start, include food boxes, learning bags with activity sheets and manipulative toys, diapers and wipes, and other essential items.

Andrea Adams, community development coordinator for Umatilla Morrow County Head Start, said community reception to the kits has been favorable since it began on April 3.

“Since then, we’ve been able to get out over 200 food boxes and over 600 learning kits,” she said. “They’re cute little bags that have all kinds of fun activity sheets in them. And they have crayons and markers and sensory toys. Our goal is to reach every family that’s enrolled in our programs, which is close to 900.”

Adams said most of the items for the kits have been donated by local organizations. The only items her organization has had to purchase has been some diapers and wipes.

“It’s just awesome how local organizations have stepped up and donated to our cause,” she said. “Just all kinds of people have just came forward and made this whole process so much nicer, and it’s just incredible.”

The family care kits have reached families in Milton-Freewater, John Day, La Grande and Condon, Adams said.

“There’s been a few families that we’ve reached and they’ve said they were OK with the food, so they haven’t accepted a food box, but everybody is getting a learning kit with those activity sheets and all those little manipulative toys,” she said.

Head Start programs are federally and state-funded nonprofit organizations that provide early childhood education and other resources to low-income families. The Umatilla Morrow County Head Start is headquartered in Umatilla County and has sites in 13 Eastern Oregon counties. In 2018, according to their annual report, their services reached more than 9,000 children and families.

That reach allowed the program to provide to families in outlying areas.

“All of our family advocates, our lead teachers and our education managers are out there reaching out to the families to see who’s in need of all these items,” she said.

The program’s Downtown Center of Early Learning building, also known as the DCEL building, on Main Street in Hermiston has been turned into a distribution hub, of sorts, Adams said.

“I have it kind of set up a like a store,” she said. “I have the diapers over on one table, and food boxes ready to go. And so everybody’s just been coming here, grabbing what they need, and then taking it out to the families directly. So we’re just like the hub.”

Adams said a second round of learning kits is in the works, maybe in the summer, to go out to Eastern Oregon families.

“I think that next time around, we’ll be a little more organized, because things got a little chaotic,” she said. “There’s just a lot going on. So we are planning on doing a second go with the Learning Kits, and possibly food boxes, as well.”

With so many families experiencing hardships during the struggle with COVID-19, Adams said it’s been heartwarming to see the outpouring of support for those families.

“And we have more to give, too. So this isn’t just like a one-time thing. We plan to continue it for as long as we get donations coming in,” she said.

Umatilla Morrow County Head Start started an Amazon wish list to appeal for donations during the pandemic.

Andrea Adams, community development coordinator for Umatilla Morrow County Head Start, said individuals, families or organizations that have the means to donate can go to the UMCHS Facebook page and find a link for the Amazon Wish List.

“They can click on the Amazon link, and then just see what we’re looking for,” she said. “They can donate from there, too.”

Umatilla Morrow County Head Start has had a number of local businesses and organizations step up and help out with items for its family care kits. The businesses and organizations that have donated include Shearer’s Foods, Boardman Foods, Lamb Weston, J&J Snacks, Kopacz Nursery & Florist, SMART Reader and the Walmart Distribution Center.