A new volunteering opportunity has opened up for HFCC students to make sure local Dearborn elementary and middle school children have enough food to eat on weekends. Blessings in a Backpack is a national organization dedicated to the problem of hunger that inflicts both urban and suburban areas. The program was recently brought to the Dearborn school district, where a staggering amount of children are currently living in impoverished households.
Many children at each elementary school in the district are given funded lunches each school day, because of conditions not permitting them to be able to pay for lunches or bring them from home. On weekends, of course, it is not possible to get these lunches to students, so many times they must go without certain meals. The Backpack program helps to counteract this, with packing backpacks and giving them to these children on Fridays and having them returned the following Monday so the cycle can repeat.
Food items currently issued for the Dearborn school district include canned ravioli and chicken noodle soup (or canned spaghetti and tomato soup to account for vegetarian students), and instant oatmeal, along with snacks such as granola bars and fruit roll-ups. Meijer has become one of the main sponsors for Dearborn schools; Panera Cares has started to donate its leftover bread from each day to the program as well, which is divided into equal portions for each backpack. The items are meant to be easily prepared and are non-perishable, so they can hold up well through packing and last while the child has them, while giving students proper nutrients. Donations are also accepted; $80 sponsors an entire school year’s worth (38 weeks) of a backpack with food for a child.
Because the program is relatively new to Dearborn, only two schools are currently being issued backpacks. Snow and DuVall elementary schools currently issued backpacks, and more are soon to be added along with some Dearborn- area middle schools. Since Blessings in a Backpack was initiated in Dearborn, schools have seen test scores rise and the overall energy of the students greatly improve; this is noticeable in every city where the program is used.
The packing takes place at the First Baptist Church of Dearborn on the corner of Beech and Nowlin on Wednesdays and some Thursdays, if needed. A few weeks ago the Rotaract club at HFCC attended a packing session. There were a few less than 130 backpacks to pack and sort, so with about 10 people the session went very well and the work was done with time to spare. It was a great experience for everyone involved and the group hopes to return to help in the months to come.
Funding continues to be greatly needed for Blessings in a Backpack and they are continuing to look for sponsors. If you would like to learn more or help out, stop by a Rotaract meeting in the Learning Lab on Mondays at 2.