Imagine being a child, coming home from school, to an empty house, with no food to eat, no one to help make dinner, and you are hungry.
We did imagine this. Which is why we have The Backpack Club.
What is the Backpack Club?
A way to ensure students facing hunger at home or experiencing family crisis have enough food to eat on the weekends. The Backpack Club provides kid-friendly, single serving food items so children have enough to eat when outside the safety net provided by school meal programs.
Over 4,000 "backpacks" were handed out to hungry kids last year and on average 126 students a week received assistance during the 2010-2011 school year.
How Does It Work?
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Students are identified by teachers and social workers or enrolled directly by their parents.
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Teams of volunteers from The Light on The Mountains Spiritual Center and around the community spend Thursday afternoons stuffing re-usable bags, or "backpacks", with the equivalent of 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 snacks and 2 dinners from a pre-determined menu of healthy, easy-to-prepare, shelf stable foods.
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Friday morning, another team of volunteers takes the bags to each of Blaine County's eight public schools.
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Social workers and teachers discreetly distribute the bags to each of the students in need.
Why Do We Need The Backpack Club?
The tragic implications of childhood hunger include chronic health problems and a decrease in learning potential, academic achievement, and employment potential. Children who experience hunger regularly cannot focus and do not have sufficient energy or stamina. They are not experiencing childhood; they are experiencing hunger.
Learn More about Childhood Hunger Here
What kinds of food do children receive in their weekly "backpack"?
Depending on the age group, kids will receive the equivalent of 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners and 2 snacks. Keep in mind, these are all single serving, easy-to-prepare, shelf stable items and have been selected for their nutritional content, quality, and acceptability. Our Food Bank Supervisor, Matt Furber, watches closely for new opportunities to increase the quality and nutritional content of the foods distributed through the Backpack Club.
Elementary School Sample Menu: 2 8oz carton milk, 1 juice box, 1 packet instant oatmeal, 1 box raisin bran, 2 packets Easy Mac, 1 can ravioli, 1 can peaches, 2 fruit leathers, 1 package peanut butter crackers, 1 small bag trail mix, 1 can veggies
Middle & High School Sample Menu: 2 8oz carton milk, 2 boxes orange juice, 1 box raisin bran, 1 packet instant oatmeal, 1 can ravioli, 1 tuna kit, 2 packets Easy Mac, a can peaches, 2 fruit leathers, 1 serving apple chunks, 2 can veggies, 1 granola bar.
With Special Thanks to these generous organizations for their support in keeping local children fed and healthy during the 2010-2011 school year:
The Wood River Women's Charitable Foundation, The Good Works Institute, St. Thomas Urgent Needs Fund, and an anonymous donor.
And the Volunteers from Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center for their continued support.
Background
In 1995, an Arkansas school nurse observed children returning after weekend breaks with dizziness and stomachaches. When she realized the source of the “illness” was actually hunger, she partnered with a local hunger relief organization to start the first backpack program. Now there are examples of these programs all over the nation, started by food relief organizations in response to reports from schools about children going hungry over the weekends. Teachers and school nurses describe children eating extra food on Fridays in preparation for a weekend without food and returning to school on Monday, voraciously eating the breakfast provided.
Research and conventional wisdom tell us how important proper nutrition is to children’s physical growth, mental development, and ability to concentrate and perform in school. They can suffer from physical, mental and emotional problems, sometimes experiencing permanent damage. They often struggle with disciplinary and performance issues in school, which has a lasting effect on their ability to receive a higher education, to find living-wage paying jobs, and to escape the cycle of hunger and poverty that trapped them at an early age.
