Colts and Patachou Foundation partner to upgrade school and fight hunger

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts announced a $1 million gift to support PataSchool to transform school kitchens in Indianapolis into spaces to help provide healthy meals to students.

“For many children, school breakfasts and lunches are the only guaranteed meals of the day, with school meals accounting for half of a child’s daily calories,” said Colts Vice Chair & Owner Kalen Jackson, said in a press release.

 The PataSchool is an initiative of ThePatachou Foundation, which according to the organization works to restore working kitchens in schools, hires and trains culinary staff and provides free, scratch-made meals.

“One in five kids in Indianapolis is living with hunger, and the lack of access to quality food negatively impacts school attendance, behavior in and out of school and overall health,” Jackson added.

The Colts say the goal of the partnership is to serve 1.2 million meals to 3,500 students in Indianapolis over the next five years.

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“Just changing so much as your eating habits or introducing a new food they may never even heard of can do so much to just kind of expand their mind to look further than the environment they are already in,” Colts Linebacker, Zaire Franklin told WRTV.

The partnership already supports Circle City Prep Elementary School on the far east side and Purdue Polytechnic High School on the near eastside.

Tuesday’s announcement now adds Adelante Schools at Emma Donnan School #72.