BackPacks for Friday provides meals for holiday break

Before some students around the region took off for Christmas break, they got a food infusion, thanks to the Southeast Food Bank's BackPacks for Friday program.

Backpacks contain a weekend's worth of food for a family of four. "In our whole 16 counties, we do 962 backpacks a week," said Hope Pascoe, a member of the Child Hunger Corps at the food bank.

But for Christmas break, 2,886 backpacks were distributed over a few days, Pascoe said. Each backpack contains items such as two vegetables, two fruits, two main dishes of spaghetti noodles and sauce, chicken Alfredo mix with a can of chunk white chicken and a breakfast item. Also included twice a month is muffin mix in blueberry or chocolate chip, Pascoe said.

The food bank makes up four menus, so it can order in bulk before time and still provide options, Pascoe said. Generally, menus can vary depending on how involved the community is and how many children need backpacks, she added.

In Cape Girardeau, backpacks are delivered to the school district's warehouse on Clark Avenue. The participating campuses in Cape Girardeau -- Jefferson, Franklin, Blanchard and Clippard elementary schools -- take delivery from different volunteer groups and packs are distributed by a site coordinator, Pascoe said.

Volunteers usually pick up that week's order from the warehouse every Thursday.

The number of backpacks offered for the holidays depends on when students are due back at school -- some districts are out for about three weeks and some for two, Pascoe said. In Cape Girardeau, 360 backpacks were distributed at the four different campuses this past week. Typically, it's 120 a week, she said.

Lisa Elfrink, nutrition services coordinator for the Cape Girardeau School District, said students were given backpacks Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to take home.

The packs are available to students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, but students also need a referral from a teacher, principal, counselor or parent liaison, Elfrink said. A letter is then sent home to the student's parents so they can decide whether to sign up for the backpack program.

"Someone has to recommend that there's a need for this family to have extra help outside of school," Elfrink said.

Pascoe said the food bank builds breaks -- and even snow days -- into the BackPacks for Friday program and tries to send the backpacks home with students early on those occasions.

Pascoe said the food bank will be adding two new sites in Perryville, Mo., and Ste. Genevieve, Mo., in January that will give out 60 backpacks total -- 40 in Ste. Genevieve and 20 in Perryville.

"We're also adding an extra 40 in Sikeston" to the kindergarten center, Pascoe said.

The food bank also has another program in Hayti, Mo., where on a recent Thursday 256 families received 30 pounds of food each.

"We gave them whole turkeys donated by Isle Casino in Cape," she said.

"We try to plan for it," Pascoe said, "so when we do our ordering, we know we're going to be sending home more poundage."

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

3920 Nash Road, Cape Girardeau