BACK PACKS FOR KIDS

Posted By Diane


IMG_20160125_130533

In this photo are Houlton Rotarians Jerry Wilson, Moose Karnes and Kathy Miskelly. Moose spoke to the luncheon meeting about the work of Back Pack For Kids. This is a nationwide program to feed children over the weekends when they are not at school. Twenty-one million American children qualify for this program since they are classified as hungry. These children often are only fed at school.Feeding America has a website which explains the history of this program. In the Houlton area the Houlton Methodist Church has led the fund raising for this at seventy thousand dollars in 5 years with Rotary contributing seventeen thousand dollars. Back Packs are filled on Fridays and loaded onto the school buses that have the children in the program and the bus drive oversees the distribution. Generally a school nurse identifies the child in need and an application is sent home with the child which will also report on any allergies. In Houlton around twenty-eight back packs are handed out each weekend. The local schools involved are Mill Pond School, ACAP, Houlton Southside School, and some 6th graders, now at the high school in Houlton.  Donations are welcome as it costs more each year to fill a bag. County Yankee donates to the cause as well as private contributors.

This entry was posted in Community Service, Program. Bookmark the permalink.