Caring About Nutrition (CAN)

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Fall Food Drive

Ray-Pec Caring About Nutrition (CAN) is holding a food drive to re-stock the CAN Pantry. Donations may be delivered to any Ray-Pec elementary school, East Middle School, South Middle School, or the Raymore Chamber of Commerce. You may also donate on Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Raymore Price Chopper store during an in-store food drive sponsored by Dominate Dance in Raymore.

  • Monday, Sept. 9 - "Make it a Meal Monday" - Donate canned pasta, mac 'n cheese cups or boxes, canned tuna or chicken, or cans of soup.
  • Tuesday, Sept. 10 - "Time for a Snack Tuesday" - Donate granola bars, snack cracker packs, applesauce cups, bags of microwave popcorn, or individual servings of peanuts or trail mix.
  • Wednesday, Sept. 11 - "Wake up Wednesday" - Donate individual cereal boxes or individual oatmeal packets.
  • Thursday, Sept. 12 - "PB&J Thursday" - Donate 16-ounce jars of peanut butter and plastic bottles of jelly.
  • Friday, Sept. 13 - "Fruits and Veggies Friday" - Donated canned vegetables, cups of fruit, or applesauce.
Fall Food Drive 2019
Jodie Huston at Rotary meeting

Rotary Club donates to CAN

Thanks to the Belton-Raymore Rotary Club for the donation of $500 to the Ray-Pec Public School Foundation Caring About Nutrition program. Rotary Club President Kris Turnbow presented the check on May 29, 2019, to Foundation Executive Director Jodie Huston.

Thank you!

Thanks to these organizations for donations during April 2019 to support the Caring About Nutrition (CAN) program:

  • $2,000 from First Church of Peculiar
  • $1931 from the Bel-Ray Sunrise and Raymore Lions Clubs from the Chili Cook-off
  • $500 from the Raymore Lions Club for its annual giving
Optimist Club gives to CAN

Optimist Club members volunteer for CAN program

The Ray-Pec Sunrise Optimist Club supports the Caring About Nutrition Program through donations of food and money and by volunteering. Club members are meeting once a week during April to package food for distribution.

Those who met April 4 were (left to right): Tom Circo, Ron Stevick, Jim Kopetsky, Marlin Sexton, Eleanor Kopetsky, Stephen Miller, Alan Klein, and Vince Como. Carl Kent who took the picture.

About the program

Caring About Nutrition serves K-5 students with bags of food on Fridays for weekend meals they might otherwise miss. CAN sends home food for two breakfasts, two lunches and two snacks. CAN also has small food pantries at the middle schools and high school for students to access when needed. 

2017-2018 summary


During the 2017-2018 school year, CAN served 169 kindergarten through 5th grade students in six elementary schools. Peculiar Elementary continues to be served by Harvesters BackSnack program. CAN also served four students at Shull Early Learning Center. Accounting for siblings, a total of 106 families were served PreK to 5th grade. At the middle schools, CAN served 42 students in grades 6-8. At the high school, CAN maintained a pantry for students to access as needed. For more details, read the 2017-2018 summary.

You can help!

The program operates on donations of food, money and time from volunteers. To learn more, go here: http://caringaboutnutrition.weebly.com/. You can donate at our participating K-5 schools or the Raymore Chamber Commerce office.  You can also volunteer!
Students from Little Blessings donate food to CAN

Little Blessings children donate to CAN

Children in the Little Blessings School-Age Child Care program at St. Paul's United Methodist Church pose with the cans that they purchased and decorated for the Ray-Pec Caring About Nutrition program! At right is CAN Volunteer Jackie Boursheski.

Bel-Ray Lions donate to Foundation image

Bel-Ray Sunrise Lions Club donates to CAN

Thanks to the Bel-Ray Sunrise Lions Club for donating $701 to support the Caring About Nutrition Program. The money was raised during the club's Chili Cook-off in February. Lions Ron Brennan, at left, and Angie Fyffe, at right, presented the donation to CAN Volunteer Jackie Boursheski and Jodie Huston, Foundation Executive Director.

Raymore Lions donates to RP Foundation 051018 image

Raymore Lions donate to Foundation

Thanks to the Raymore Lions Club for donating $600 and a $100 Price Chopper gift card to support the Caring About Nutrition program! Club President Russ Scott presented the donations on May 10, 2018, to Jodie Huston, Foundation Executive Director.

More about CAN
The Raymore-Peculiar Public School Foundation, with the cooperation of several local business leaders, operates the Caring About Nutrition (CAN) program, an approved 501(c)3 organization. CAN is designed to assist students with nutritional needs while they are away from school over weekends. Qualifying students receive a weekly child-friendly food package. 

 For more information, contact Jodie Huston, Foundation Executive Director, at the Ray-Pec Administrative Services Center at 816-892-1368 or jodie.huston@raypec.org. The CAN program also has a Facebook page.