The other day, I was in the office of a Warrick County Elementary school and I noticed two little girls standing in the doorway. The principal asked the ladies what they needed and they told her they were there for their food bags. I might not have know what they were talking about except just the Friday before, my daughter told me she noticed a boy on her bus who had a bag of food. When she inquired about it, she learned that his family was short on food at home and a "backpack buddy" supplies food for him on the weekends. It's hard to imagine that kids right up the road from me might not have enough food but it happens. And since I'm blessed that I don't face this issue in my home, I figured it was high time that I did something to help other families through a rough patch.

The Refuge Christian Church's service ministry, Love the 812 is one backpack buddy drop-off location.
Backpack Buddies provide backpacks filled with shelf stable foods to kids in Warrick County who might not otherwise have enough to eat on weekends when they are at home. The kids receive backpacks each Friday and return them on Mondays to be refilled and given to them again the following weekend.
You can financially sponsor a child each week for the remainder of the school year or bring a ziplock bag filled with food for one child. It costs $3.50 per week to sponsor a child.
UPDATE on 3/7/19: 

TRCC’s “Love the 812” has been blessed with an abundance of snacks since we shared our request for food to fill the Backpack buddies bags that we send home with school kids on Fridays. These bags are given to children who might not otherwise have enough food to eat over the weekend.

If you have plans to purchase food to donate to these bags, we could really use pop top canned soups, Vienna sausages, Slim Jim’s, other pop top canned meats, the small packages of peanut butter, and individual packages of fruit or applesauce.

Also, we could use Ziploc sandwich bags and two-gallon Ziploc bags. If you had expressed an interest in donating money, we will use your money to buy these items. Thank you so much for your support for our community’s kids!

 
What to Put in Your Ziplock Gallon Bag
*Canned Soup
*Canned Pasta
*Spam
*Potted Meat
*Vienna Sausage
*Beanee Weenee
*Chili
*Beef Sticks
*Peanut Butter
*Crackers
*Snack Crackers - Cheese & Peanut Butter
*Club Crackers in small packages
*Muffins - individually packaged
*Individual applesauce - please put in a sandwich bag
*Individual puddings - please put in a sandwich bag
*Individual packaged fruit cups - please put in a sandwich bag
*Small package of raisins
*Granola Bars
*Breakfast Bars
What Should Each Bag Contain?
One of the things that I wondered was what to put in each bag. I found this guide.
  • A breakfast item (cereal, oatmeal or breakfast bars)
  • A shelf-stable milk
  • A lunch entree
  • A dinner entree
  • 100% juice box
  • Snacks (such as cheese/peanut butter crackers, granola bars, cookies, etc.)
  • Fruit snacks (applesauce, fruit cups, etc.)
Canned items should be in pop top cans and not require cooking. The church is asking that you do not donate bulk food as they cannot store it at this time.
You can drop off the completed food bags or donation checks at The Refuge Christian Church located at 8566 Telephone Rd, Chandler, IN 47610. Volunteers are also needed to put together food bags from donations. Please direct any questions to Twana Avery @ (812) 618-8921 or Twana.Avery@therefugecc.org.

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