Blessings in a Backpack

We are not named, but here's a description of our service project: (From the 2/5/2010 version of Citrus Chronicle)


By Nancy Kennedy

Imagine being 5 or 6 years old and hungry. During the week you get to eat breakfast and lunch at school, but by Saturday you’re hungry again.

Imagine your mom saying to you, “Don’t worry. Monday morning will be here before you know it,” but you’re just a kid. You’re hungry now, and it’s hard to concentrate on anything else when your tummy’s growling.

Thanks to Blessings in a Backpack, a nationwide program of USA Harvest and a local program of Citrus County Harvest, 46 students at Hernando Elementary School bring food home on Fridays, enough for six meals, so they won’t go hungry waiting until school starts again on Monday.

The pilot program, which began this past Sept. 18, combines efforts from Citrus County Harvest, Hernando United Methodist Church and local businesses, civic organizations and individuals.

The original cost of the program was an estimated $15,000 for as many as 50 students for 35 weeks.

“We’re going to be able to do it for $13,000, but we’ve raised $15,000,” said Debbie Lattin, Harvest chairwoman. “We raised it by going out into the community and telling our story, and people are giving a little bit here and there. We’ve got a lot of partners.”

Also, about 2,500 pounds of food has been donated by people in the community.

Each Friday, students in the program receive backpacks identified by a number, filled with three protein items, crackers, an entrée, fruit, cereal and snack items. Once a month they receive plastic jars of peanut butter and jelly and a box of (shelf) milk.

They try to focus on protein foods and foods that do not need to be cooked or refrigerated. Not every family has electricity or means to prepare food.

Kids return the backpacks on Monday and a team of volunteers meets Thursdays at the Harvest room at the Historic Hernando School to fill them.

The zippered backpacks are provided by USA Harvest.

Enough food is also sent home for younger siblings who don’t go to school.

In Citrus County, about 45 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. At Hernando Elementary, it’s 65 percent.

“Our school has a great need,” said Susan Bailey, school guidance counselor. “This has been such a godsend. One parent said, ‘I don’t know how we’d get through the weekend sometimes without it.’”

Lattin said she learned about the program from the CEO and founder of USA Harvest, Stan Curtis. She and fellow Harvest board member Cyndi Ellzey met Curtis in Orlando, where he explained the program, and Lattin said she and Ellzey drove the whole way home to Citrus County overwhelmed.

“We kept saying, ‘We can’t do this, but we need to do this,’” Lattin said.

Primarily, Harvest is a food recovery program, picking up perishable food from the hospital and restaurants and delivering it to local soup kitchens.

“We ask for food, but not money,” Lattin said. “So, this was new to us.”

Meanwhile, Phyllis Smith, former longtime schoolteacher at Hernando Elementary School and member of Hernando United Methodist Church, learned about a similar backpack program at a friend’s church in Georgia, told her friends at the Hernando church, and called Lattin.

The church initially committed to providing an assembly team and later raised $2,000 to buy food.

Lattin said Harvest’s goal is to bring Blessings in a Backpack to Homosassa Elementary School next. Ideally would be to have “Blessings” at every county elementary school. That would entail a place to store and assemble the food, funds to purchase the food and partnering churches and/or civic groups to provide volunteers and help raise funds.

“Ownership is in the community where the school is,” Lattin said.

One mother wrote a letter, thankful for her children’s weekly backpack. “Thank you to everyone involved with the program,” she wrote. “My children and I are truly blessed to have people like you looking out for us in our time of need.”

“We ask these children to come ready to learn new concepts, to communicate with adults and peers, to follow directions and listen carefully and (be) ready to work cooperatively,” wrote county schoolteacher and Harvest board member Tobey Hunter on Harvest’s “Silencing the Hunger” brochure. “All these children can think about are the stomach pains — how hungry they are.”

For information about Blessings in a Backpack, call Citrus County Harvest at 341-7707.

Contact Chronicle reporter Nancy Kennedy at 564-2927 or nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

HOW TO HELP

To help feed a hungry child, consider donating either funds or food.

Items needed are:

* Protein items (peanut butter, boxed (shelf) milk, tuna, canned chicken, beans, canned stew).

* Pasta (canned spaghetti or ravioli, canned prepared macaroni and cheese).

* Soup (ready to eat, no heat or refrigeration needed).

* Juice (pop or pull-top).

* Cereal (single serving portion).

* Fruit (no glass, pre-packaged, single serving).

All items must be ready to eat, prepackaged in single servings and easy to open.

Call Citrus County Harvest at 341-7707.