For years, couple has helped run Snak Pak program for kids

The couple was nominated by their daughter, Marie Pearthree, who said her parents are dedicated to the food bank's Snak Paks for Kids program.

Rheta Slezak has coordinated the program since 2005 and recruited her husband, their friends and church members as volunteers. The group meets every Tuesday morning during the school year to fill 150 bags with food. Each Friday the bags are given to students living in poverty who attend Erickson and Prince elementary schools to help sustain their families over the weekend. The Slezaks and other volunteers sometimes use their own money or donations from friends and family to buy extra food for the bags.

"Rheta and Les have kept this effort going despite debilitating health problems," wrote Pearthree in her nomination. "Rheta had three major back surgeries in 2008 at the age of 78, was hospitalized and in rehab for about a year, and now can only get around by using a walker and a wheelchair. Lester, who is her primary caregiver at age 81, cannot lift much and has much difficulty walking as well.

"Their dedication to the Snak Pak program has never wavered, however, and they continue to advocate for good food on behalf of the schoolchildren."

The Slezaks were "belled" during their weekly bag-packing session.

"It caught me totally off-base. Neither Rheta nor I had even the foggiest notion such thing was even possible, much less that it would come about for us," said Lester Slezak, who attributes the program's success to his wife. "Rheta is the heart and soul behind the whole venture."

Rheta Slezak said she and the other volunteers get as much out of the program as they give. Each bag-packing session is a chance for them to socialize, and it is gratifying when they get a letter from a child they fed.

"One child wrote a really sweet thank-you note," she said. "They said they were so glad to get the soup because their mother had no food for them. It was enough to make you cry."

Said their daughter: "They have a whole scrapbook of these letters and … it's really endearing to read them."

The project

The Ben's Bells Project began in March 2003, one year after Ben Maré Packard died of croup, just before his third birthday. His family hopes it reminds people to be kind, to help ease one another's pain. The latest phase of the project began in September 2005, weekly "bellings" for those among us who make our community a better, kinder place to live.

Visit www.bensbells.org/ Nominate.html to nominate someone for a Ben's Bell. To learn more about the project, and find out how you can make bells, go to www.bensbells.org or call 628-2829.

Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191.