For most school children, Fridays during the school year represent the beginning of a fun weekend of hanging with friends and family, competing in some youth sports leagues or skiing or camping under the Big Sky. But sadly many underprivileged children in Great Falls constantly dreaded Fridays because it meant a weekend of no school breakfasts or lunches, and little or no food at home. This is where the Great Falls Community Food Bank has stepped in with their vital Backpacks4Kids program.
The program sees the Food Bank delivering more than 950 2.5-pound bags of food to the fifteen elementary schools each week. School counselors and teachers then discreetly slip the bags into the backpacks of hungry school children on Fridays, ensuring they have food for the weekend. Often on long holiday breaks, the Food Bank will double the packs.
The Backpacks4Kids program began in 2011 with just the four most impoverished elementary schools participating. The Food Bank slowly started adding schools as they realized hunger was, in different levels, present in all schools. By 2020, all fifteen elementary schools as well as Vaughn school was added to the program. Food Bank Executive Director Shaun Tatarka said the community has really stepped up to support the program.
“Great Falls is a pretty generous city,” Tatarka said. “Each time that we added to this program, our amazing donors responded. The people in our city have pretty much said ‘we aren’t going to let kids go hungry.’”
Great Falls Public school teachers and counselors have high praise for the program. In a recent survey, Jackie Mainwaring, the district’s current executive director of student achievement who has had several roles in Great Falls schools, reported that teachers had seen tears of relief from underprivileged students.
“I had one teacher tell me how amazing it was to see big smiles on Friday afternoons instead of tears of worry,” Mainwaring wrote.
Former Chief Jo Elementary School principal (currently North Middle School principal) Brian Miller said the Backpacks4Kids program makes his job easier by removing some anxiety over the kids’ home lives.
“There are families I would worry about if it were not this program,” Miller wrote. “We love these kids and we feel better knowing there’s food for them on the weekends.”
Miller also said the Backpacks4Kids program has made a difference in the classroom. “When students have all their basic needs met, and aren’t anxious about what’s coming—or what’s not coming, their behavior tends to be much better.”
The packs of food consists of two entrees (usually Campbells’ soup and/or pasta), two bags of cereal, one small carton of non-refrigerated milk, juice, Kracklin Kamut, cookies, granola bar and fruit snacks.
Tatarka said the Food Bank is eyeing adding Great Falls’ two middle schools to the program.
“It has been a disappointment to a lot of kids who move on the middle school and that food is not there in their backpacks,” Tatarka said.” Hopefully we can raise the funds to add North and East Middle Schools to our program.”
The program has grown over the past few years. In 2020, the Backpacks4Kids program was feeding about 725 students a week. The 950 they are distributing today represents more than a 25% increase in just five years.
If you would like to contribute to the Backpacks4Kids Program, you can do so by donating online at the Food Bank’s website at greatfallsfoodbank.org or sending your tax-deductible donation (marked backpacks4Kids to GFCFB, 1620 12th Ave N., Great Falls, MT 59401.
Author: Staff
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