Third-grader: 'This is the only thing I've got to eat on the weekend'

On a table at Glade Spring Middle School is a backpack stuffed with kid-friendly, easy-to-prepare foods such as cereal, peanut butter, juice, cookies, and macaroni and cheese.

The backpack serves as an example – of a local problem and a growing program to tackle it. Schools are sending similar backpacks home with students on weekends, to extend the benefits of school breakfast and lunch programs to children who might not otherwise get enough to eat at home.

With the help of a $1,500 check from the United Way, Glade Spring Middle School joined the effort Thursday, the latest of at least three Washington County schools now stuffing backpacks for the weekends.

The program in Glade Spring is starting small, targeting about two dozen families in a school of about 300, with members of the Student Council Association volunteering to pack the bags each Friday and hopes of reaching out to more kids.

It’s the first in Washington County for Raymond Cross, director of the Bread of Life Food Pantry in Saltville, who said four schools in Smyth County already participate, and it’s making a difference.

“This girl went up to me, she said, ‘I want to thank you for my food backpack,” he recalls of a Smyth County third-grader. “She said, ‘This is the only thing I’ve got to eat on the weekend.’ ”

He said he’s seen many smiling faces and heard many thanks from children for the backpacks of food, which cost about $7 each to fill. Operating on “faith and donations,” he said, his food pantry helps to provide for about 1,000 kids.

There’s definitely a need in Washington County too, said Lisa Roberts, a guidance counselor at Glade. She said the recession of the past few years has taken its toll, putting a strain on family budgets and leaving some parents stuck with a choice between paying energy bills and buying food.

Roberts said 54 percent of the school’s kids qualify for free or reduced lunch, a higher percentage than it used to be. And it became apparent that some of the kids were showing up at school hungrier on Monday mornings.

Even as economists point to positive signs that the recession is easing, the number of applications for free and reduced lunch in Washington County continues to rise, said Francine Ivery, manager of school nutrition programs for the school system.

“The need is definitely there,” she said. “A lot of kids, the most meals they get are during the school day, breakfast and lunch.”

Abingdon and Rhea Valley elementary schools also started backpack food programs this year, with help from local churches.

At Rhea Valley, Principal Debbie Anderson said that at her school church volunteers stuff the backpacks, which are given to more than 60 families in the school of 480 kids.

Anderson said the program began with a letter sent to every home, giving everyone an opportunity to sign up for the food – and giving everyone an opportunity to help.

So while some kids have the food discreetly placed in their backpacks by teachers on Fridays, others’ parents drop off donations – a case of peanut butter here, a box of granola bars there – at the school.

“It’s the local churches, the community people, who are supporting this,” Anderson said. “I love the fact that there’s a strong partnership between the community, the school and the parents, all working to get the needs met of our children, regardless of what those needs are.”

Right now they distribute the food every other weekend at Rhea Valley; the hope is that, eventually, it can increase to every week.

Fred Parker, the United Way president who also serves as Washington County Treasurer, expressed hope that the program can continue to expand.

“As a former teacher and principal, I can tell you that hungry children don’t learn very well,” he said. “We’ll probably try to do this with other schools.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com
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