The Murray State News

Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: News

Most kids in elementary school look forward to the weekend as time to have fun and take a break from school. For a number of children in Calloway County, however, the weekend means no guarantee of food for two days.
The Backpack Program is an answer to this problem. Sponsored by Needline, the program begins this month and will attempt to provide students in need with food during the weekend.
Tonia Casey, director of Needline, said she was first made aware of children without food last year.
"About a year ago, I had a few people come in and tell me about the Backpack Program," Casey said. "They said that there were children in their neighborhoods who were going hungry."
Casey researched the program in other areas of the country and then presented the idea to the Board of Education, which approved the program for Calloway County.
Casey said they are anticipating at least 100 children to be a part of the program.
Robin Taffler, coordinator for Roads Scholars and the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, is a member of the Community Concerns and Needs group and said she was shocked when she learned so many children have no food at home.
"The scary thing about this to me is we have children who are going hungry in Calloway County," Taffler said. "I had no idea that there were children who didn't have food to eat."
After her initial shock wore off, Taffler began to learn more about the problem and the warning signs.
"One way you recognize hunger in children, especially little children, is they stuff food on Friday and seem overly hungry on Monday," Taffler said. "Behavioral problems arise because they're trying to get to the front of the lunch line and they have trouble concentrating in class."
The program relies on teachers and guidance counselors to identify and refer potential students for the program. Next, parents must sign a permission slip. Finally, each Friday during the last recess of the day, when the classroom is empty teachers will slip a pre-prepared bag of food into the children's backpacks to maintain confidentiality.
Although the program begins today for Murray system schools and April 18 for Calloway system schools, the response has already been overwhelming.
Courtney Fein, family programs coordinator for the Calloway County Family Resource Center, said she has already received 42 referrals from Calloway County teachers.
"This is the very, very beginning stages," Fein said. "We definitely haven't heard from every teacher yet. It's going to be a huge need."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools