Author: Marian Stacy
Planning Unit: Madison County CES
Major Program: Nutrition and Food Systems General
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
The Madison County Backpack Program was designed to provide an underserved community of children with shelf stable snacks as a way of feeding themselves through days that they have no access to food. God’s Outreach in Richmond as well as several local churches pack over one thousand backpacks with enough snack food to last each child one month of non-school days. The Snap-Ed Assistant Senior in Madison County has tried for several years to collaborate with the Backpack Program with no success. During the COVID shutdown, the Assistant decided to try again, this time successfully forming a collaboration with God’s Outreach supplying 652 Wally Cat Recipe Cards and Handwashing sheets to be included in each backpack God’s Outreach would pack that month. The Assistant was then inspired to reach out to a few of the schools Family Resource Center Directors that were not listed on God’s Outreach backpack list. By doing this the Assistant was permitted to supply two addition schools with monthly backpack nutrition information and recipes totaling 782 children reached every month. This opportunity has allowed the Snap-Ed Assistant Senior to solidify a working relationship with not only God’s Outreach but with several Family Resource Centers as well as AmeriCorps and a few local church groups. In turn God’s Outreach has asked the Assistant to supply relevant nutrition information and recipes to their Senior Commodities Program in Richmond as well. The AmeriCorps worker at one of our county schools Family Resource Center commented to the Snap-Ed Assistant Senior how much the children and parents alike have enjoyed the backpack information. It was asked for publication to continue through the summer to be included in the Summer Feeding Program.
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