Small Bags, Big Impact
Dear Hope family,
Years ago, our life group volunteered to help pack backpacks for Speas Elementary, a school serving a large low-income population. At the time, we may have actually used backpacks to hold the food that we inspected, counted, and sent to Speas. Eventually, we transitioned to double bagging the food in grocery bags because of costs, but we’ve continued to call it the Backpack Program. Several members make sure that each week we deliver meals to Speas in time for kids to take them home over the weekend. In each bag a child receives are ten items, often things like shelf-stable milk, apple sauce, cereal, and vienna sausages or another type of protein. They’re no prep items that any age child can feed themselves without adult help. For some of these children, this will be the only food they have between when they leave school on Friday and return on Monday. The guidance department works with teachers to identify the neediest of the needy and help them get in the program.
Next month, we’ll gather on November 2nd from 3:15-4:15pm in the pavilion for a “Backpack Packing Party.” We form assembly lines and inspect, double bag, and rebox the food. It’s always a fun hour that passes quickly and there are treats afterwards. Kids are often our quickest packers! I invite you to join us, especially if you haven’t before!
This morning, I got to hand the bags of food out to the 63 kids currently in the program (it fluctuates throughout the year as families who experience food insecurity often also experience housing insecurity). It was a great opportunity to see the food finish the journey from Second Harvest to the classrooms, but also to actually be on the campus we’re serving. The school would love help with distribution on Friday mornings. If you’re interested, you can reach out to me. See below for a few other ways to support Speas. You’ll quickly find out that you are just as blessed by these kids by helping!
Blessings,
Sarah