Blessings in a Backpack offers a solution for food insecurity

By Maureen Callahan

Millions of American families experience food insecurity. Sometimes, it’s part of the fall-out from another event, such as job loss. Other times, it’s a longer-term issue. Blessings in a Backpack (BIB) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that ensures local students have enough to eat over weekends and school holidays.

The idea of BIB began in 2005 when Missy Hammerstrom, a woman in Louisville, Kentucky, volunteered at an elementary school. As she ate lunch with the students, a little girl asked Hammerstrom for her apple.

When Missy asked why the student wanted it, the girl said she needed it to eat over the weekend because her family did not have enough food.

That was Hammerstrom’s a-ha moment. She cleared out her garage, bought backpacks, filled them with food, and donated them to the school. She fed 30 children that first weekend.

A Whittier parent learned about BIB at a conference. She approached the school’s principal with the idea to start a local chapter in the fall of 2014. Initially, there were three volunteers. One funded the purchases, the second did the shopping, and another delivered the packed bags of food.

Soon after, District 58 principals implemented the program districtwide. Donors began funding weekend bags for specific schools and recruiting volunteers to pack, purchase, and deliver food.

Each of the 13 schools in District 58 has different needs. By 2018, each school in the district had assigned a community volunteer to address the needs of each individual school. Two years after that, BIB became a district project with a central fundraising effort.

BIB is guided by National Food Solutions (NFS), a platform for knowledge-based understanding of food science. Put simply, it’s an organization used by dietitians to evaluate healthy food options that appeal to children. NFS generates Amazon wish lists specifically chosen by the dietitians.

To be considered for BIB, food items must meet certain criteria such as long-term availability, cost, ease of opening, portion size, shelf life, and variety. The chosen items are low in sodium and sugar, peanut free, high in protein, and use whole grains. “Shelf stable, kid friendly items that will make it home intact inside a child’s backpack, are the priority,” said BIB Lead Program Coordinator, Kim Venzon.

Food companies such as Optimum and Sysco create prepacks from national brands like Kellogg, Conagra, and StarKist. The items are specially formulated for BIB with less sugar and more whole grain.  No refrigeration or preparation is required for the ready-to-eat food as many of the children served may not have access to working appliances or can openers.

The bags are packed at packing events, and they can take on different forms. Sometimes, they’re hosted by big companies that purchase enough pallets of food from Sysco to pack 500 bags. Other times, it’s small groups that pack about 20-50 bags, like a Girl Scout Troop or book club, that bought the food using an Amazon wish list.

From there, plastic grocery sacks or cellophane wrapped prepacks are placed into the student’s schoolbag. “Schools tell us numbers needed each week and that’s how many bags we deliver,” said Venzon. “Staff takes care of putting the bags into the recipient’s backpack each Friday while the hallways are empty.”

“One of the truly special things about our program is that we maintain the anonymity – and therefore dignity – of the recipients, as we have no idea who the specific kids that receive our assistance are,” Venzon added.
All recipients in District 58 come at the recommendation of staff. There is no paperwork involved and families may opt out of the program by returning a letter included in the first bag of the year.

“Blessings in a Backpack is a solution that is provided to students without the need for forms or justification,” said Venzon. “And it’s very flexible. It can also be used to help a child who comes to school without breakfast.”

BIB is constantly evolving the what, when, and how of the program to most effectively meet its mission of closing the hunger gap for District 58 students.

For information about BIB or to volunteer or donate, please visit Giving.BlessingsinaBackpack.org

In 2020, Blessings in a Backpack became a district project with a central fundraising effort.