The Beginnings of a Backpack Program

I recently had the opportunity to sit in on a Backpack Program planning meeting at the Foodshare warehouse in Bloomfield. The meeting was organized by Eunice Medwinter of the Hyacinth Williams Foundation for Children. Her organization is interested in starting a Backpack Program in one of Bloomfield’s elementary schools in the fall. This was the first meeting between her organization and Foodshare, who will be sponsoring the food donations. All of the legwork for this operation still needs to be determined- like where the food will be stored and sorted, which school will participate in the program, how many students will receive backpacks, who will volunteer to assemble them, etc. In a way, the meeting felt almost overwhelming because there are so many details to work out before the program can get its feet on the ground. Paul Fraleigh of Fraleigh & Gray, Inc. was in attendance, representing the First Congregation Church in Glastonbury. He was there to offer volunteer support and to assist in gaining corporate sponsorships to cover some of the program costs. Paul had some really great ideas about individualizing student backpacks to meet their family needs, which I think has the potential of being done once the program has been soundly established. At first, though, such a large task may be overwhelming and the volunteers’ efforts may be best concentrated on deciding who (in general) the backpacks are meant for – to feed the family or just the individual child.
While much of the details still need to be worked out, it was so exciting to hear a group of people discuss how they wanted to volunteer their time to reach out and feed hungry children. At the same time, I found it upsetting that there are so many children in need of services like the Backpack Program who aren’t being reached. I have high hopes for the Bloomfield program, which has the potential to spread into other district schools. I think the key of success for the program will be modeling itself after other successful Backpack programs in the area, like the one run by the Junior League. While the Bloomfield program may not have the same resources available as the Junior League, they can still model their program after theirs by incorporating other community resources into the bags. Information on state health insurance, SNAP funding, tips for healthy eating on a budget, coupons for local businesses, etc. could be included to help empower families in need of other services. I’m really looking forward to following up with the Bloomfield program in the fall to see how the program runs and how many children are reached!

-Mariam