This article is included in our FY24 Impact Report, which can be viewed in its entirety HERE.
Each month, about 30 adult volunteers gather at the Warroad school to prepare food for their backpack program, often joined by high school students earning community service hours. After a delivery from the local grocery store, the volunteers quickly organize the food assembly line-style to fill 420 to 520 bags with nutritious items.
The packed bags are then sealed, placed in storage totes, and distributed weekly by retired teachers and community members into student backpacks.
Anonymity is key: The volunteers know only locker numbers, not names.
The Warroad School BackPack Food Program Fund began in 2016, after Susie Novak, executive director of the North Country Food Bank, introduced the community to the idea of a backpack program.
“With 1 in 5 children experiencing hunger in our region, we decided to hold a public meeting to gain input from our community, to inform them about the program and to see whether they supported (it),” said Glenda A. Phillipe, co-chair of the program. “Susie, who helped lead the meeting, stated that there had never been a larger crowd of supporters who attended any of the similar informational gatherings she had attended. Needless to say, our community was on board!”
In 2021, a similar effort was founded as the BGMR Backpack Program Fund was established by the Greenbush Area Women of Today to support students in the Greenbush-Middle River and Badger school districts.
“The programs in Warroad and Roseau had been up and running and well established,” said Kristy Kjos, chair of the fund committee. “The Greenbush Women of Today saw a need and started the process of establishing this in our schools. This was a bit more complicated because it involved two separate schools. … We were really lucky to have school personnel that took this on and ran with it!”
In Warroad, the numbers of students supported by the backpack program has grown over the years, from 75 in 2016 to upwards of 105 in recent years.
“Even though we provide food for early learners through fifth grade, we will send food home with older students, if requested,” Glenda said. “Our challenge is to be able to raise sufficient funds to cover food costs, so we can feed our hungry children.”
Each bag costs $12 to $15, a cost that has more than tripled since 2016.
“We have a generous and thoughtful community of supporters,” Glenda said, noting that donations come from churches, banks, community groups, individuals, and local businesses.
The BGMR and Warroad programs provide three meals and snacks for two full days, at a minimum, and are typically given out before a holiday or long weekend during the school year.
“Local churches regularly take collections and send them into our account, (and) financial companies, individuals, the hospital, are all regular donors,” Kristy said.
In its first three years of operation, the number of students enrolled in the BGMR program has grown by nearly 5 percent over that timeframe.
John Lee, whose position was for a time shared between the Badger and Greenbush school districts, has helped coordinate the assembly and delivery side of the program while the fund committee has managed the fundraising and the finances.
John credited the Badger National Honor Society, and its advisor Shannon Dostal, with preparing and assembling the meals while he was been back and forth between the districts.
He shared a story about a fifth-grade student who was left to care for other young children while their parent was away but there was no prepared food in the home. The backpack program provided for the children during that timeframe.
“Good nutrition is very critical to good health and to success at school,” Glenda said. “Children who don’t get enough to eat have trouble concentrating, have lower energy levels, and experience greater absenteeism. Studies point out with good nutrition, improvement is shown in all areas.”
While anonymity is a key pillar of the program, volunteers are touched by the stories that do get back to them. In Warroad, a first-grader tugged on the suit coat of a teacher after that first distribution in 2016 and asked, “Will we get food again?”
More recently, student went to her locker, unzipped her backpack and slid her hand inside. She turned to her Warroad Elementary teacher with a big smile, gave the teacher a thumbs-up and said, “Teacher, my food is here!” This set off a chain reaction as three other children checked their own backpacks and added their own thumbs-up, “Me too!”
Join the cause!
You can donate to support either the Warroad or BGMR backpack program – or both! – by visiting https://nwmf.org/donors-giving/find-a-fund/ and searching for “backpack.”
