At an Orem elementary school where roughly 70% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a community-driven effort is helping kids and their families get through the Christmas break.

With assistance from the Orem Police Department and other volunteers, Westmore Elementary School put together 160 meal kits full of donated food items Monday morning that will be handed out to students to help keep them fed over the two-week span they’re out of school.

It’s the school’s third year doing the food drive, which has steadily received increased support from the community.

“Totally grassroots,” Principal Vic Larsen said. “I’ve had perfect strangers who’ve contacted me who’ve said, ‘I’ve heard about this; I would love to help.’ And I think it’s awesome because the students here really need a little bit extra every now and then. So this is filling a need that I’m grateful we’re able to fill. … Just taking some pressure off the families.”

When Larsen was the new principal at the school three years ago, he was approached by a student who inquired if they’d have any extra food over the break.

There was no plan in place, so Larsen put out a call on social media to see if anyone was willing to donate. The school managed to fill up 50 meal kits in a handful of days.

Last year, that number grew to 80 meal kits. This year, donations doubled.

Alyson Madsen, the school’s community outreach coordinator, called the drive “quite the undertaking” and said a generous independent donor provided all the nonperishable items, while the perishable items were donated by community members.

“In each kit, they’re going to get soup, canned vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, apple sauce, rice, noodles, sauce for the noodles, crackers, granola bars and all of your easier foods for the kids to prepare like mac and cheese, ramen noodles, Cup Noodles, and then our fresh produce,” Madsen said.

The drive slowly is becoming a Westmore tradition, she added, something kids look forward to and parents are grateful for.

That includes Brandi Duffrin, a mother of two students at Westmore who was on hand for the event Monday.

“My husband’s the only one working right now, so it’s extremely helpful to get extra support when it comes to food,” Duffrin said. “It feels good knowing that other people care about those that are struggling and they want to help make a difference.”

Larsen said the food drive is one of many ways to help students at Westmore. He invites anyone looking to volunteer to come by and read to a student or help out a teacher.

“Time is the most important commodity anyone has, and what our students need is just a friendly face,” Larsen said.