COLUMBIA COUNTY BACKPACK PROGRAM TO PROVIDE FOOD FOR LOCAL CHILDREN

PRESS RELEASE
08-27-10

For some school children in Columbia County, the weekend is not a fun break from school and studies; instead it often can be a time for hunger.  These are children whose primary meals during the week may be the free breakfast and lunch they receive each day at school, and when those meals are not available on weekends, hunger becomes a daily reality for them.

A project being initiated at the start of this school year hopes to help alleviate child hunger in our area. The mission of this program is to provide nutritious, child-friendly and easy-to-prepare food at times when other sources are not available, by filling backpacks with shelf-stable food items that will then be discreetly distributed to eligible children on Friday afternoons at school.

This program is an all-volunteer effort started by the Committee for the Columbia County BackPack Program.   Coordinator Linda Fix, who is also an employee at First Niagara Bank stated, “We started the Committee in April 2010 after a meeting of the Kids in Motion Program featured a speaker from a similar BackPack Program in Broome-Tioga County.  A group of attendees formed the initial Committee because we strongly believe that no child in Columbia County should be going hungry on the weekends.”

The Backpack Committee is working in collaboration with the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.  Food items will be picked up at the Food Bank on Wednesdays, food will be placed in backpacks on Thursday afternoons by local seniors, local youth groups and other volunteers, with the backpacks delivered to schools for distribution on Fridays. The goal of this pilot year is to serve 30 children in grades K-6 in the Hudson School District, as well as homeless children, for a total cost of $5,000.

Ms. Fix added, “The cost of sponsoring one child for a full school year in the program is $167, along with a Backpack costing $5.56.  The Committee is working to find corporate and local business sponsorship for the Backpack Program.  We are working to have funding in place so that this program can continue and expand in the future.  The Committee is very grateful for a grant of $2,500 that we will be awarded from the Hudson River Bank & Trust Foundation.”

For more information about this program or if you would like to participate as a Volunteer or Sponsor a Child, contact Linda Fix at 828-4401, or email ccbackpackprogram@yahoo.com or contact any of the following committee members:  Trudy Beicht, Anna Duhon, Carol Gans, Jane Miller, Alice Mockovciak, Karyn Novakowski, Kari Rieser, Lynn Seftner, Pam Strompf, Bonnie-Jo Westendorf, Tara McSherry-Wolfe.