The Wake County school districts may feel short on joy and merriment this holiday season.

Nationwide, school districts enrolled growing numbers of homeless children throughout the year, and Raleigh was no different.  As parents faced layoffs, cutbacks, and foreclosures the homeless student population rose dramatically.

 Now the holiday season has arrived, and many liaisons who coordinate services for homeless families in the schools are scrambling this holiday season to gather donations to benefit homeless children enrolled in county schools.

"School districts don't have the funding to purchase food for homeless students," says Cassie Bouldin the Community Affairs Manager at Lifestyle Family Fitness who is coordinating a nationwide holiday drive to benefit school districts in all counties where Lifestyle Family Fitness is located. 

"We're calling on everyone in Raleigh to donate snack foods at any of our clubs, to help these students or their siblings," says Bouldin, about the snack-attack holiday drive which ends on Christmas day.

The items will be used by the Raleigh Rescue Mission, because the mission provides temporary housing for many of the students who attend the Wake County Schools.

Snacks should be non-perishable.  Please do NOT donate expired items!!! Recommend donations include: applesauce, fruit cups, jell-o, pudding, nutri grain bars, chewy granola bars, dried fruit, snack crackers, and any other items people wish to donate. 

There are four Lifestyle Family Fitness locations in the Raleigh region.  To get an exact address where you can drop off snack foods, please go Lifestyle Family Fitness online and select "club locator".  All clubs have numbers listed and you can gather information about needed donation items by calling any of the clubs.