Perry County High School Boosts Support, Students Face Growing Hunger

On November 26, 2025, school staff at Perry County Central High School in Hazard reported an uptick in requests from students seeking food and snacks to take home. The school maintains an on site resource center run by the family resource and youth services office, and staff stocked the center with ready to go meals, snack bags and other supplies ahead of the Thanksgiving break to ensure students would have access to basic necessities while families faced higher household needs.

Samantha Turner, the family resource and youth services director at the high school, said many students regularly ask for food and snacks to take home. The resource center is intended to be a clear point of access for students who need food or other basic items during and after school, particularly over long breaks when school meals are not available.

The situation at Perry County Central reflects longer running challenges with student food insecurity in Eastern Kentucky. For local families, holiday periods can magnify existing strains on household budgets, and schools often become the primary safety net for children. In the short term, the stocked resource center provides immediate relief by reducing missed meals and limiting day to day hunger during school closures.

From an economic perspective, the local response highlights the role of school based supports in cushioning households amid constrained incomes. Community demand for charitable food services tends to rise during holidays, placing pressure on local nonprofit partners and public resources. Longer term solutions will require coordination between schools, county social services, food banks and state programs to expand access to nutrition assistance, streamline benefit enrollment and address underlying income insecurity.

For Perry County residents the school action is both practical and symbolic. It keeps food available for students now, and it draws attention to the need for sustained community investment in food access. Continued support from local donors and policy makers will determine whether such resource centers remain a temporary patch or become part of a more resilient local safety net.