Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. a group of men are busy filling backpacks with food. They are the Backpack for Kids (B4K) volunteers. More than a decade ago, Mr. Gerald Karnes and the men’s group at the Houlton United Methodist Church (HUMC) noticed that many children were suffering from hunger and started this program to reduce child hunger in the community.
B4K program offers families groceries for weekends. Fook backpacks include healthy food for kid-friendly meals like cereal, oatmeal, granola bars, mac and cheese, peanut butter, boxed juice, or canned soup. Currently, the HUMC volunteers deliver 30-40 food backpacks weekly to local schools, including ACAP, Houlton Elementary, Houlton Southside, Houlton High School, and Hodgdon Mill Pond School.
As an African proverb says, it takes a community to end child hunger. B4K program is going strong thanks to the generosity of our community. In particular, County Yankee Grocery, Hannaford, Houlton Rotary Club, Houlton Regional Hospital, and Littleton Baptist Church, along with individual donors, have always been a great support to this program. Mrs. Dawn Matthews and her students at Summit Academy so generously volunteer their time.
If you would like to get a food backpack, please contact your local school. There are also many ways you can help B4K program. You can volunteer your time, donate food or give monetary gifts. If you have any questions, please contact our B4K coordinators Drs. Linda Maraya and Chet Husted at 227-3497. Together we can fight child hunger, one child at a time.
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