Backpack Program Helps More Children
Photo: Left: Marketing Coordinator, Mary Beth Flanders with Amy Kenney, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations, Hollywood Slots at Bangor are ready to deliver filled backpacks to the EdGE program.
Les Stanwood, Backpack Coordinator for The Maine Sea Coast Mission's "EdGE" program, is committed to helping meet the huge challenge of providing meals to underprivileged children during the school year and appreciates the extra help they received recently. The EdGE program, name for the Ed Greaves Education Centers, is a member agency of Good Shepherd Food-Bank, and provides in-school, after school, and summer programs for middle school aged children throughout Washington County. The goal of EdGE is to improve academic performance, increase confidence, and build character amoung the youth they serve. One part of the EdGE program is a discreetly organized back-pack program which allows a child to bring home a pack filled with food, supplied by the Maine Sea Coast Mission and Good Shepherd Food-Bank. Each Friday, during school months, specific children are given these backpacks filled with kid-friendly foods. Each week, approximately sixteen children are helped through this program.
Employees of Hollywood Slots at Bangor purchased and filled 10 backpacks
After recently learning of the program, employees of Hollywood Slots at Bangor took the challenge to purchase 10 backpacks and filled each one, brimming with varieties of kid-friendly products. Included were juice boxes, individual cereal boxes, easy open lunches, and healthy snacks. "We heard of the need to help school children through Good Shepherd Food-Bank's recent back to school letter, and we were inspired to know that we could respond and help these kids in a real way." said Amy Kenney, Marketing Director for Hollywood Slots, Bangor. The BackPack Program concept was originally developed at the Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomach aches and dizziness. The local food bank began to provide the school children with groceries in non-descript backpacks to carry home.
35,000 backpacks distributed nation wide
The program has now grown nationally, with 110 America's Second Harvest Food-Banks participating, and approximately 35,000 backpacks distributed each week nationwide. Good Shepherd Food-Bank's spokesperson, JoAn Chartier, stated; "School teachers are in the front lines. They're the ones who are working closely and know the kids who are coming to school hungry and leaving school to face empty cupboards. The backpack program is an important safety-net for many school children who might otherwise go without.
Program participating Maine Seacoast Mission looking for volunteers to fill backpacks
We are always happy to have the opportunity to connect groups to support our agencies' programs. The Maine Seacoast Mission's EdGE program is a significant help to many children in this region of our state and has profound, positive effects on children's learning." Maine Seacoast Mission is always looking for volunteers to come in for an hour each week to help fill backpacks as well. For more information on how to help or receive help, please call the EdGE office at 207-546-4466. Good Shepherd Food-Bank is one of Maine's largest hunger relief organizations, providing food to more than 600 network agencies throughout the state. More than 70,000 people are fed each month through the collaborative efforts of food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless and abuse shelters, group and foster homes, recovery centers, and programs for children and the elderly.
