BUCHANAN ­— Children who  spend their afternoons at the Buchanan District Library now have snacks to keep them from going hungry, thanks to a local organization.

Kids Community Outreach of Buchanan recently donated several months worth of snacks, including juice boxes and granola bars, to the to supply the library’s afterschool programs.

“They have made a very generous donation,” said Buchanan District Library Director Barbara Wallace. “We will use that donation to feed the kids [who] frequent our after school programs.”

The organization, which was established around four years ago, got its start by partnering the Buchanan Moose Lodge. For the past two years, Kids Community Outreach of Buchanan has been donating to the library.

“We really want to make sure that the kids that go to the library every day have something to eat,” said Kids Community Outreach of Buchanan’s President Randy Sears. “Every time [the library] calls us, we try to get food out to them in the next day or so.”

Sears said that he is proud of his organization, and that he sees donating to the library as a worthy cause.

“We want to make sure they aren’t spending money out of their own pocket for food,” Sears said. “We like to say to [the library], ‘keep doing what you are doing by providing these great after school programs, and we will provide the snacks and the drinks.’”

A 100 percent nonprofit organization, Kids Community Outreach of Buchanan raises money to fund these donations through different fundraisers, the biggest being a twice-a-year horseback ride, called “Ride Against Hunger.”

About half the funds raised from that event go back to the Buchanan District Library, Sears said.

Born and raised in Buchanan, Sears said the goal of his organization is to help local families out with food donations, with donations to the library is just a small part of what Kids Community Outreach of Buchanan does. The groups hosts many events and projects throughout the year aimed at helping the hungry of Buchanan, including providing lunches to school children who cannot afford them.

“Everybody on our board has been in a situation where we know what it’s like to be in need and know how hard it is to reach out,” Sears said. “So, this is something we are really passionate about. We want to make sure that we help out everyone and every child in this community that is hungry. Anywhere we can reach out to a kid, that’s what we are going to do.”

For its part, the Buchanan District Library said they were grateful for the donation, and that it would go a long way toward helping the children of Buchanan.

“The snacks really help kids bridge that gap between lunch and what they are able to get at home,” Wallace said.

Wallace said the donation will allow the library to put money they would have spent on snacks into community and children’s programs.

“It’s wonderful when we get donations like this,” Wallace said. “They are obviously great on their own, but they allow us to spend money on other worthy projects as well.”