Blessings in a Backpack launches in Stewardson, IL

Story via Graham Milldrum, Effingham Daily News

It’s hard to study without knowing where the next meal is coming from. A group of volunteers in Stewardson is working to help ease that burden for students.

The group is the local chapter of the Blessings in a Backpack, which is ready to feed up to 115 children in the Stewardson-Strasburg School District.

So far, 31 children have signed up. On Tuesday, the volunteers loaded bags with six food items each, a mixture meant to serve as a bridge from the Friday school lunch to the Monday school breakfast.

The group set up in the basement of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Stewardson, setting up stations along the long dinner tables. That allowed for a speedy loading of the dark gray plastic bags.

The first set of meals were made of various food that children will hopefully find easy to prepare. That included canned pasta, instant mashed potatoes, applesauce cups and similar products.

The goal is to have six food items, Bridget Greuel, president of local Blessings in a Backpack organization, said, which will hopefully help tide students over the weekend.

They’re trying to make something that children will actually eat, she said, and she’s prepared four menus to serve on a rotating basis.

With $100 needed per child per year to run the program, that means the $5,000 they raised already will more than cover this year, but they are concerned for the future. They hope that support will carry on to fund the program for at least three years.