As you may know, hunger and food scarcity is a significant challenge in this area (and if you didn't know, it is). It's a problem in many areas, but a big challenge here too. Hence the reason for a food pantry (or two or three). Children get food during the week at school, but what about over the weekends? Well, that is where we come in at Grateful Bread Food Pantry, where I've been serving since August. Every week, we make up "backpacks" for school kids to take home over the weekend. What does this entail? Well, it's a bit of a process, and we’ve perfected our technique.

We make backpacks for anywhere from 20 to 35 kids, depending on each school. As of now, we only make them for three schools in the area, so around 86 children per week. Believe it or not, to get all of them done it takes about a day, just because we're running around helping out participants who drop in at the pantry at the same time. Each pack contains two breakfast items (typically cereal, poptarts, or oatmeal), two lunch items, two dinner items, two drinks, and two snacks. We get supplies for these backpacks from various sources, including Walmart donations, donations from community members, and donations from CAP's own Operation Sharing warehouses. Recently, we've also started putting affirmation notecards in the backpacks, to try to boost the kids spirits a bit too. I have a lot of fun with it!

Helena is serving as a long-term volunteer and an AmeriCorps Food Pantry Caseworker with CAP's Grateful Bread Food Pantry Program. She is a member of the Mt. Vernon Volunteer Community. Opinions expressed in volunteer blogs are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CAP or the Volunteer Program. If you would like to learn more about CAP's Volunteer Program or connect with a current volunteer like Helena, please contact us.