An extra source of food for hungry children is backpacking its way to International Falls.
The Kids Packs to Go BackPack Program will allow local teachers and school counselors to discreetly put bags of food in childrens’ backpacks every Friday — to help feed them over the weekend. The program, which begins at Falls and West End Elementary Schools this year, targets children from “food insecure” households.
“They live in a home that they don’t know when their next meal will come,” said Sue Estee, executive director of Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, the organization which coordinates the program. “And the impact of food insecurity is long-lasting.”
Almost one in five kids in north central Minnesota lives in a food insecure household. The hunger impacts their academic performance and health — children are more prone to illness without sufficient food or proper nutrition, Estee said.
In Minnesota, there are more than 200,000 children living in food-insecure homes. The poverty rate for the counties served by north central Minnesota’s Second Harvest is over 13 percent according to 2010 census data. The child poverty rate is 21 percent.
“The story is alarmingly familiar here in our region,” Estee said. “There are a staggering number of children living without adequate nutrition right here in our own backyards.”
The program began in the region in 2005, and is brand new to the Falls this year. Funding was an issue for bringing it to the local schools, but a grant from United Way of Northeastern Minnesota alleviated the problem.
“We’re so happy to bring the program to International Falls,” Estee said. “It’s great to be able to bring food to kids who need it.”
The program distributed 1,720 bags of food last year to 16 schools in five counties every month — 13,592 packs throughout the year. The United Way grant for International Falls has allowed the program to provide food every week to the local elementary schools. Estee added that teachers and school counselors are aware of which children come to school hungry, especially on Mondays. Many of these children depend on school meals during the week, but go hungry over the weekend.
The plan is for teachers to “find a way to get it into the kids’ backpacks without making a big deal in front of everyone,” Estee said.
The program is for children in kindergarten through grade six. Estee said children up until fourth grade are easier to help than the children in upper-elementary grades.
“Once they get older, it’s not as acceptable — there’s a stigma with kids’ peers,” Estee said.
Each bag for every child in need typically contains 11 to 14 items of child-friendly, non-perishable nutritionally balanced foods — shelf-stable milk, cereal, fruit cups, granola bars and 100-percent juice. The United Way grant has added “entree-type” foods to the Falls branch of the program. United Way pays for the full cost of the food — $3 to $4 of product per pack.
“It gives the kids some control over their own food situation,” Estee said, adding that some items can provide children with the option of bringing a snack to school.
Estee says the food for the program is more expensive than typical food bank products because they are single-serve packages. With the price of food rising across the nation, funding has been a large hurdle in expanding the program.
Second Harvest and volunteers in the community are working to get the program launched by September — but that depends on how the planning goes, Estee said. The program will be ready to go in October for sure, she added.
Schools with 50 percent or more of the student population on the free or reduced-price lunch program are eligible for the assistance, given that the funding is available for that area.
“If funding would permit, we’d have it in all schools that have at least a 50 percent of kids on the free and reduced (school meal) program,” Estee said. “Funding is a major challenge — it’s definitely an issue.”
Teacher surveys for the program have shown that kids that are not hungry have increased test scores and decreased absenteeism, Estee said.
“It’s hard to measure the impact of not being hungry in real concrete terms,” Estee said. “But if the kids aren’t hungry, that’s our goal.”
With a prolonged recession, high unemployment rates and rising food and fuel costs, Estee said she also sees the program as something that brings hope to families.
“Child hunger in America is a solvable issue,” she said. “Programs like Second Harvest North Central Food Bank’s Kids Packs to Go BackPack program, which puts food directly into the hands of children in need for weekends and school vacations, are making a difference in the lives of children every day.”
