Attendance spikes on Fridays and Mondays in some Hamilton County schools - because kids who don't have enough food to eat at home over the weekends show up at school for free lunches.
That's according to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, whose volunteers put together some 2,000 "Snack Packs" that teachers discreetly sneak into the backpacks of "food insecure" students - so they'll have something to eat on Saturday and Sunday.
"We do that in Hamilton County for 2,000 students," said Gina Crumbliss.
Crumbliss - who on Tuesday was announced as the food bank's new president and CEO - has big plans in her new job.
"Our goal is to end hunger in our region in 10 years," said Crumbliss, a native Chattanoogan with executive experience in the banking industry.
For one thing, she wants to get more Snack Packs to students who need them. In addition to Hamilton County, another 5,000 students in 19 counties around Chattanooga currently get Snack Packs put together by area charitable organizations with edibles provided by the food bank.
The food bank knows how to stretch a food dollar, she said.
"One dollar will provide four meals for children," said Crumbliss, who plans to take that message to organizations in all of the food banks' counties, including to area Chambers of Commerce.
"That kind of gets your message out," she said, explaining that she worked on marketing in her role as senior vice president at FirstBank - Tennessee's largest independently-owned bank.
Before that, she worked for FSG Bank and helped raise its profile through such efforts as getting FSG named the official bank for the athletics program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Football Club and the Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball team.
The food bank has 50 employees, a $26 million annual budget and serves some 25,000 people a week. Tom Sullivan, chairman of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank board of directors said Crumbliss "is the right person at the right time for our organization."
"We are confident that her vast experience in cultivating key community partnerships and proven ability to achieve organizational strategic goals will accelerate a real movement to solve hunger in our region," he said.
Crumbliss attended Girls Preparatory School, an all-girls prep school in Chattanooga, until an accident in her senior year made graduating on time impossible. So she got her general equivalency degree instead, and then later graduated from Covenant College. Jobs she held before her banking career included phlebotomist, a medical professional who draws blood.
She is a graduate of the American Bankers Association School of Bank Marketing and Management and a graduate of Leadership Chattanooga.
Crumbliss brings over 30 years of nonprofit experience to her role at the Food Bank. Serving in a variety of capacities - including senior staff member, board member, committee chair, and volunteer, she has worked for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Zoo, and the Rotary Club of Hamilton Place.
In April 2016, Crumbliss was recognized as a 2016 Women of Distinction Honoree in Chattanooga, an honor granted by the American Lung Association here.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.face book.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetfor business or 423-757-6651.