St. Francis Hosts ‘Cat Packs Weekend Food Backpack Program

There are hungry children in our community. Not just waiting-for-lunch hungry, but children who arrive at school on Monday mornings having eaten little, if anything, since last Friday’s school lunch. Children who arrive at school hungry are not able to focus and learn. When the Cooperative Ministry Council, a coalition of churches and agencies in the western Panhandle of Nebraska, was approached in the spring of 2009 by members of St. Francis with a proposal to help alleviate this hunger, they were eager to help. The Weekend food Backpack Program was launched on January of 2010. We expanded the program to include the Gering Public Schools. A second packing station for "Pup Packs" was opened at Sumitt Christian College.

Since that time, over 5000 backpacks of food have been packed in the “pack room” at 1st Presbyterian Church by members and their friends from the community. Every Wednesday night, 5-15 volunteers gather to fill backpacks with canned foods, cereal, powdered milk, snacks and fresh fruit. The following morning, packs are delivered to area schools to be distributed to identified children for the weekend. Food and money for the program is provided by St. Francis and other churches in Coop Ministries, as well as many individuals and community organizations throughout the valley.