Backpack Buddies - Russ Isom

Overheard in an elementary school cafeteria:  A staff person asked a youngster, “Don’t you have lunch?” No response. Two students next to her began sharing their lunches with her. How many children in our schools go home on the weekend, knowing they will not have much to eat? For several years, the North Clackamas School District has served food-insecure students through a volunteer-run program called Backpack Buddies. Nutritious food packages are slipped into the backpacks of children who are in need each Friday. The goal is to serve students two meals per weekend for 37 weeks per year. 

 

Hope City participates in this program. Last school year, we served 13 students at one of our local elementary schools. This school year, we started with 19. By early December, the number had grown to 46. A faithful team of Hope City people makes all this happen. One of our couples purchases the food for that week and delivers it to the Hope City campus. Items are lined out on three tables by early Wednesday afternoon. Three volunteers come at 2:00 to pack all the food into bags. Thursday morning, after Men’s Community, one of our men delivers the 46 bags to the school so the counselors can place the food in the students’ backpacks on that week's last day of school. Extra food is sent home before the longer breaks—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break.

 

Here’s a heartwarming story observed by a teacher.  One of the boys in the backpack buddy program stood in line waiting to board his bus for home on Friday. He reached into his backpack for something to eat. One of his classmates asked him where he got the food. He explained that he gets some extra food to take home each week because his family doesn’t have much food at their house. The classmate said, “I don’t have much food at my house.” The boy retrieved his bag of food from his pack and handed all of it to his classmate. This observant teacher quickly returned to the school for another bag of food to give to the generous student.  Even those being helped are more than willing to give away what they have received to help someone else.

Russ Isom
Care Pastor | Hope City Church