backpack club: overview of our ministry

More about Backpack Club: Newspaper Feature about College Park | To Do List | Wall St Journal Feature | Backpack Club Brochure | Sample Menu | School Volunteer Form

What Do We Buy? Here are the items we normally buy for the backpacks. So if you see bargains on any of these, please purchase and donate to us so we can help replenish our pantry. Canned Chili Canned Beef Stew Canned Fruit coctail Pudding Cups (any flavor) Fruit Cups (any flavor) 100% juice boxes (6oz or 8oz preferred) Raisins (usually 6 boxes in a pack) Cereal Bars (Granola type) Single serve applesauce any brand or flavor (usually 6 in a pack) Shelf ready milk (1quart size-soymilk is ok as well) Single serving Cereals Macaroni-n-cheese (boxed any brand) Vienna Sausages (prefer chicken) Peanut Butter (18oz plastic jar) NO GLASS JARS- NO MICROWAVE MEALS What would you expect to find in a child’s school backpack? Books, notebooks, papers, pencils, and other supplies, right? A backpack typically carries things that children need to participate and succeed in school. However, for 32 elementary students at Peck Elementary School on West Florida Street, their backpacks carry a weekend’s supply of food instead of books and pencils. They are being fed through College Park’s Backpack Club, a new children’s food ministry that is currently being piloted by the Missions Committee. Our committee became interested in starting this ministry after Our Rydell suggested it to Cindy Dillon and me. Through Rydell’s job with Guilford County Schools, he had heard about similar programs being operated in many communities around the U.S. Rydell has also seen firsthand how many elementary students are coming to school hungry on Monday mornings. Our research revealed that, despite government spending on nutrition programs, there are lots of working families who can’t make ends meet. A parent is laid off from work. A car breaks down. A child gets sick and there’s no health insurance. Any of these things will stress a family’s financial situation and force parents to make difficult choices about whether to pay bills or buy food. Even though the children in these families may qualify for a free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch at school during the week, on weekends and holidays their food source is uncertain. So what religious groups and nonprofit organizations have started doing to address this issue is to provide selected elementary school children with backpacks full of nutritious, kid-friendly foods to take home over the weekends during the school year. The program is straight forward. Food is purchased by an organization and packed in backpacks. Backpacks are common among school kids, so no one has to know the child and his/her family is receiving food assistance. The backpack contains enough food for a weekend, and it is delivered to the school on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, kids selected to receive the backpacks pick them up and carry them home. On Monday morning, the child brings the empty backpack to school, where it is picked up by a volunteer. Then the cycle starts again. If you search the Internet, you’ll find tens of thousands of articles about backpack programs operating across the U.S. In North Carolina—Second Harvest Food Bank of Western NC operates backpack programs in Ashe, Surry, Rockingham, Davidson, Alexander, and Stokes counties; the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC operates backpack programs in Durham, Moore, Franklin, and Wake counties. Outside our state, there are backpack programs in large and small cities such as Paducah, Kentucky; Rockville, Maryland; Springfield, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Tyler, Texas. A Wall Street Journal article from 2006 said this type program was operating in schools across 30 states. It certainly is in more states by now. Volunteer groups that organize such programs include sororities, 4-H clubs, food banks, and faith-based groups. So why would College Park want to become involved in this type of ministry? Starting a backpack ministry can accomplish several things. First, we believe that we are following Jesus’s clear mandate to his followers to feed the hungry. A backpack ministry is one way to address the growing problem of hunger in our community. More and more people in the greater Greensboro area are turning to Greensboro Urban Ministry and the Salvation Army for food assistance. Last summer, GUM almost ran out of food and had to have an emergency food drive, which College Park participated in. Children are always most susceptible to hunger and the health problems it can cause. This program also affects the education of children, which is something that many of our members are connected to as teachers, librarians, and administrators. When children are hungry, they cannot learn and have discipline problems. The program may foster a growing relationship between our church and a nearby school that has lots of needs. This program may lead to other opportunities for ministry to people in our immediate area. If this program grows, it may offer opportunities for us to work with other religious groups in the future. Of course, starting a backpack ministry requires planning, money, time, and volunteers. The Missions Committee spent a lot of time from June to November last year discussing logistics and making plans. Size: We decided to start small— only 5 students per week. We targeted older elementary students because they are a little more responsible and able to keep up with the backpack. School: We selected Peck Elementary on W. Florida St., a few blocks from here, which has a large student population that gets free and reduced-price lunches. Being close to the school makes it easier for one of our volunteers to pick up and deliver the backpacks. Selection of students: We asked the principal and school social worker to select 5 students known to need this food assistance. The social worker received permission from the student’s parent or guardian. Volunteers: We use church member volunteers to pick up and deliver the backpacks, buy food, keep track of our food inventory, and load the food in the backpacks each week Phyllis Kelly is our grocery shopper, and I pick up the empty backpacks. Phyllis Kelly and Cindy Dillon have been packing the backpacks each week. In the future, we hope to get a variety of our small groups each week to put the backpacks together. For example, one week it could be the adult choir, the next week a children’s Sunday School class, then an adult Sunday School class, etc. Storage: We cleaned out a closet beside the stage, installed a lock, and now have a secure place to store our bulk food supplies. Food: We want to provide foods that are nonperishable, nutritious, heated using a stove (not a microwave), and kid-friendly. For example: Breakfast: single-serving pouch of instant oatmeal and a juice box Lunch: small can of BeanieWeenies, a fruit cup, and a juice box Afternoon snack: cereal bar Dinner: spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, applesauce As part of our planning, the Missions Committee certainly had to consider the financial cost of conducting such a ministry. Committee members spent several months thinking about what foods to include and researching food prices. After doing some comparison shopping at stores such as Aldi and Costco, we estimated we can provide breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack for 2 days for a total of $6.25 per child. But more than financial support, the Missions Committee is asking for prayer and time support. Pray for this ministry, especially for the children we’re currently supporting and their families. ( refer to Backpack Club members handout) Contact me or Cindy Dillon if you’d be willing to be a backpack packer, pick-up person, or delivery person. You can make a contribution to the program by designating “Backpack Club” on a giving envelope. The program has gotten off to a great start, with much appreciation expressed by Peck’s social worker and principal. Phyllis Kelly’s shopping skill has allowed us to stay well under our $6.25 per child limit each week. Although these children don’t know who we are, we do hope they will understand that someone cares about them.   See our Backpack Club Brochure.