Backpack program beginning third year of helping families

            Children get nutritious meals at school, but what about the weekends, when families struggling with money won’t have the National School Lunch Program for assistance? The Backpack Program, a food relief program for families of schoolchildren in the district, is gearing up for its third year.

             “The idea is that we will provide some supplemental food for families who are struggling for the weekend,” said Pastor Bill Kem, one of the chief organizers of the program.

            In its first year, the Backpack Program provided extra food weekly for five families. Last year, it provided for 11 families, around 50 people. This year, the program may be able to help up to 15 families, though numbers are still being finalized.

            Families are chosen based on need. Those participating receive a bag filled with food on Friday afternoons. “Students of the families that know are getting them stop by the guidance office at the end of the school day,” explained Trisha Rosendahl, principal at the elementary school.

            The children who have been part of the Backpack Program qualify for free and reduced-price meals from the National School Lunch Program. To qualify for reduced meals, students’ families must be at or below 130 percent of the poverty level, which in 2014 was an income of $30,615 for a family of four. For reduced-price meals, families must have an income between 130 percent and 185 percent. In the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows district, around 40 percent of schoolchildren’s families fit one of those categories, according to Rosendahl.

For the complete story see the August 27, 2015 issue of the Wright County Monitor.