Blessings In A Backpack

Over the past month, St. Stephen’s Sunday School and youth group raised funds with a Super Bowl Sunday chili and hotdog sale to support Blessings in a Backpack. After raising almost $800, it was time to go shopping and pack the bags for distribution to children who otherwise might go hungry over the weekends. The idea is to provide two breakfast, two lunches, two dinners and snacks. This was the first time the Sunday School has been able to resume this outreach since COVID began. There were enough funds raised to provide a second weekend of food in the future.

Blessings in a Backpack is a national program to provide food on the weekends for school children across America who might otherwise go hungry. During the 2021–2022 school year, Blessings distributed nearly 3.2 million bags of ready-to-eat food to children at 1,118 schools in 46 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Since 2009, Blessings has provided 26.7 million hunger-free weekends for more than 927,000 children nationwide.

In Port Washington, Blessings is an opt-in program offered to students who are identified as “food-insecure”. The program is aimed at the youngest students in the district. Currently 45 weekend meals are being provided. The program has been in existence for approximately eight years. Sheryl Albanese and Valerie Taylor are the Program Coordinators.

—Submitted by Sheryl Albanese and Valarie Taylor