The truth is many parents count on the meals schools provide their children during the week. But, for some, getting enough to eat on the weekends can be difficult as well.
With that in mind, Bellefontaine Elementary School has offered a backpack food program to cover Saturdays and Sundays for several years now. And, though they faced limits during the covid scare, they were able to pick it up at the end of the last school year.
“It helps kids get through the weekend who might have food insecurities,” organizer Karen Wilson said. “The families are chosen based on teacher recommendation — they notice a need and send a form home to parents, who have the option to say yes or no.”
Wilson partners with Bellefontaine United Methodist Church (UMC) and other congregations, like Vineyard Christian Fellowship (VCF), to provide backpacks containing meals for an average of 25 students. Each bag contains two breakfast-like meals and two lunches. The food is purchased from local grocery stores with money donated through participating churches.
According to Wilson, “The goal is to find options as healthy as possible with pre-packaged, nonperishable foods.” Those items include things like microwavable macaroni and cheese cups, veggies, chips, popcorn and protein granola bars. “It needs to be food kids can prepare themselves,” she added.
Once a month, a group of volunteers puts the bags together to cover the next four weekends, which comes to approximately 110 backpacks each month. Fortunately, Wilson has no shortage of helpers, from the Girls Club at VCF, who took care of February’s work, to various other small groups connected to churches around Bellefontaine.
“We have a large number of volunteers willing to pack,” Wilson said. “Probably more than we can use, which is a great problem to have.”
Donations can be made directly to VCF with “backpack fund” in the memo, Wilson said, either by dropping it off during office hours or by mailing it to Vineyard Christians Fellowship, 624 Township Road 55, Bellefontaine.