Pictured is one of the groups filling food sacks for the children. Left to right are the Hon. Gerald Dehner; his wife, Susan Dehner; Eric Moore; and Jon Graber.

First Presbyterian Church food program receives grant from Wal-Mart [October 25, 2012]  Food for Thought is a program begun by First Presbyterian Church to provide nonperishable supplemental food on school weekends for 36 students eligible for the free and reduced-fee school lunch program at Jefferson School and Northwest School.

According to the December 2011 federal census report, 1 in every 6 people in the U.S. is at or below the poverty level. That makes for a lot of hungry people and a lot of hungry children.

This spring Dr. Mary Ahillen, superintendent of District 27, gave permission for First Presbyterian Church to begin a small trial program providing extra weekend food for 16 to 18 students at Jefferson School who were eligible for the free and reduced-fee school lunch program.

The national Blessings in a Backpack program was the basis for the spring food program, and their lists of foods were used, along with their requirement at that time of placing the food in a backpack, which the program provided for the child and which was in addition to the backpack the child already carried.

The trial program was for 13 weeks. At the end of it, the mission committee at First Presbyterian decided to end their association with the Blessings in a Backpack program in order to have more flexibility.

Committee members worked out details of their own program and named it Food for Thought. It was decided to eliminate the extra backpacks the children had to carry home by instead putting the food in plastic grocery sacks that can be inserted into the child's own backpack. The lists of food were expanded with additional nutritious foods, including microwavable vegetables and more fresh fruit. In addition, the mission committee slightly increased the amount of money to be spent per child from the amount allowed by Blessings in a Backpack.

The intent of the Food for Thought program is to fight hunger one child at a time. It is expected that children who receive nutritious food on the weekends will have better health, more energy and consequently better attendance, which can lead to better learning outcomes. The church's mission is not to feed the whole family, but rather to supplement what the family can provide its children through the family's own resources, Link cards and the food pantry.

First Presbyterian Church is appreciative of the help it has received for this program through the generosity of Wal-Mart, which funded a $500 grant to help provide food for the children.

Another source of funding is the First Presbyterian barbecue dinner fundraiser, which is earmarked for community mission work. Food for Thought is one of the local missions funded through the annual barbecue dinner as is Coats for Kids, a church program that supplies winter coats and mittens each fall to schoolchildren in need.

Food for Thought has been enthusiastically supported by the congregation. More than 25 people have volunteered to order and pick up the food, load it into plastic grocery sacks and deliver it to the schools. Once the food reaches the schools, the staff there places it in the children's backpacks for the weekend.

Tammy Martin, principal at Jefferson School last year, and the school secretary, Deb Shaw, helped with the implementation of the program at Jefferson in the spring. This school year, there is a new principal, Sue Brummell, at both Jefferson School and Northwest School. Ms. Brummell and the two secretaries of the schools, Shaw at Jefferson and Tami Palmer at Northwest, have been very helpful with the startup of the program at both schools this fall.

[Text from file received]