Over a year ago, Sarah Sigot had a dream to achieve her Girl Scout Gold Award by establishing a program to assist children whose families are serviced by the HACA Food Pantry. The program she decided on was the Weekend Backpack program through the Regional Food Bank. [private]The first food delivery arrived on Monday, April 13 with the first back packs going home on Friday, April 17. Deliveries will continue until the end of the school year, and resume in September.
The goal is to ensure that all children in our community have the healthy food they need to
grow strong in body and mind. School breakfast and lunch, only meet the needs of children five days a week. The Back Pack Program provides food for the weekend to help meet children’s nutritional needs when these other programs are not available.
What Is The Back Pack Program?
An effort of cooperation involving public schools and other community partners to provide chronically hungry children with additional nutritional support by supplying a weekend’s worth of food each Friday.
Each child will receive one bag consisting of six balanced meals including whole-grain cereals, protein-rich entrées, canned fruits and vegetables, milk and snacks. Each Back Pack is designed to provide the nutritional equivalent of the breakfasts and lunches that a child who relies on free or reduced-price meals through the school lunch program is missing on the weekends.
Over the past year, Sarah had to explain the program to a number of different people and groups in order enlist their support and coordination of the program. She initially spoke to: Mr. Patrick Dailey, Ms. Sabrina Coll, the Key Club, PTA, Mr. Paul Baker and the Guidance Office of Hoosick Falls Central School, in order to explain the program and enlist their support. She then contacted Betsy Dixon, Director of Children’s Programs at the Regional Food Bank, who came to Hoosick Falls to discuss the program. The next connection was to the HACA Food Pantry to coordinate pick-up and delivery of the food from the Regional Food Bank to the school. This was accomplished with the cooperation of Food Pantries of the Capital District who make the food deliveries to the HACA Food Pantry.
Once all the parties were on board, Sarah had to ensure that the program was sustainable for a required three year period. The HACA Food Pantry committed to funding the first year. This was accomplished through a request to Stewart’s Holiday Match. Shown in the photo above is the presentation at Hoosick Falls Central School by Stewart’s representative Ashley Granger of a $1500 check to HACA director Dianne Hosterman, Sarah Sigot and Mr. Chase. The Regional Food Bank also committed to $1,000 for the first year. Sarah will be organizing ongoing fund raising for the program. The average cost of one backpack of food is $5.56. The cost to sponsor a child for a full school year is $167.Tax deductible donations to support the program can be sent to the Regional Food Bank, attn. Hoosick Falls Back Pack Program, 986 Albany Shaker Road, Latham, NY 12110.[/private]