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Blessings in a Backpack Prepare Food for Kids In Need

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When kids go to school hungry, they struggle to learn. Blessings in a Backpack is a program aimed at making sure no child goes hungry when they are away from school provided meals.

“I’m glad that we started the program here in Benzie County,” says Skip Comer, Benzie Blessings in a Backpack Program Coordinator. “I never realized in the beginning that there was that big of a need. We’re serving around 11 percent of the student population from preschool through high school. I wish the circumstances were different and there was no need for blessings in a backpack.”

Benzie Blessings in a Backpack started six years ago. Recently they reached a milestone. They have provided over 45,000 weekend food bags to students in Benzie Central and Frankfort-Elberta School Districts.

“It’s kind of startling that we have so many students in the school systems that live in homes that are financially strapped that they need supplemental food on the weekends,” says Comer.

The need for food items and monetary donations is even higher this year. Food prices and the number of students in need has increased compared to recent years.

“This year we have well over any previous year,” says Comer. “The numbers are higher this year. Last year, with the COVID, the numbers were down because the students weren’t in school and we had no way of distributing the food sacks to the students because we distributed through the schools themselves.”

This year, Benzie Blessings in a Backpack serves over 250 students each week which costs over $3 per student.

“We’re spending about $3.10 on a bag of food for each weekend, which, 38 weeks of the school year, we’re looking at about $120-130 a year per student. We have our budget that runs around $24,000 to $26,000 a year.
Manistee Blessings in a Backpack has also seen an increase in need. They originally started helping 18 students in 2015.

“From there we identified the at-risk kids and we added to it and we ended up by the end of the next year, exceeding 84,” says Sheryl Guenthardt, Manistee Blessings in a Backpack Program Coordinator. “Since then, it’s gone up every year.”

In six years, they have packed over 15,000 food bags for students.

Both organizations are optimistic that they will be able to provide food bags to students this winter break – two weeks away from school provided meals that some students can’t go without.

The groups rely solely on food donations or money donations to continue packing bags.

“I did work at the school for 22 years, so I was able to see the need that is there and work with the kids that need this,” says Guenthardt. “It warms my heart that this is our sixth year of doing this and it seems like the word has really gotten out to people and we are getting more donations of food now than we ever have been.”

You can contact Skip Comer at Benzie Blessings in a Backpack for information at skipcomer94@gmail.com and Manistee Blessings in a Backpack at freebird2009@charter.net

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