There’s quiet confidence in the way Emma, a kindergartner shares her family’s situation. The bright eyed 6-year-old is matter of fact when it comes to hunger.
“Sometimes we have food and sometimes we don’t,” she shares.
Emma lives with her 8-year-old brother, Jacob, and her two parents. Their living situation is anything but stable. But for Emma there’s one thing she can count on at the end of the week. Food from the BackPack Program.
“If I didn’t have the food to bring home I’d be sad because there wouldn’t be any food,” she said. Jacob agrees, “It feels good to take food home from school because it helps us.”
In NE Minnesota and NW Wisconsin, your support provides weekend food as part of our BackPack Program to as many as 1,050 children weekly.
“One of the beautiful things about this program is that it’s easy to access,” shares Stacey Achterhoff, Families in Transition Coordinator from Duluth based Myers-Wilkins Elementary School. “It allows kids to predict when food is coming and it decreases their anxiety.”
Thanks to your generosity, Northland children are receiving weekend meals, stability, and comfort. Your support allows kids to worry less about when or where they’ll receive their next meal so they can focus on important things like learning and education.
“It’s a very small thing we can do for those who have the least,” Stacey said.
Here’s a sampling of partners like you who feed and provide comfort to Northland children on weekends:
• House of Hearts Charity Bonspiel
• Maurices
• Project Joy
• Red Nose Day
• Walmart and Sam’s Club “Fight Hunger. Spark Change.”