This is a weekly program with commentary on current issues.

I stood at my station in the assembly line, thinking, "No way will I ever empty this bin."

But I kept my mouth shut and did my job, snatching up small packets of low-cal Oreos and dropping them into brown paper bags. The woman to my right did the same with Wheat Thins. The string-cheese lady stood to my left.

The paper bags kept coming, passed from hand to hand, steadily filling with tubs of apple sauce, granola bars, bags of tiny carrots, genuine Riverside oranges, bottles of pure juice.

Once through the line, the bags were stapled shut and placed in boxes. From there, they'd be driven to one of 15 Riverside elementary schools and handed off to kids who'd either tear into them right away or make them last through the weekend, sometimes beyond.

Thousands of students qualify for government breakfasts and lunches. But what about Friday dinner? In some families, money is so tight and food so scarce that the next guaranteed meal may not come around until Monday morning, assuming school's in session.

That's why 308 Riverside elementary students went home with snack bags on Friday. Roughly that number gets a bag every Friday, compliments of the Assistance League of Riverside, the brains and muscle behind Operation Snack Attack.