School is well underway and the Good Samaritan Ministries is preparing to kick off its Backpacks for Kids program, a program designed to provide backpacks full of kid-friendly, shelf-stable food to chronically hungry students over the weekends.

This program is completely free to schools and is provided at no cost to the students.

Students are enrolled in Backpacks for Kids through referrals from a faculty or staff member at the school they attend. Once on the program, each student receives a backpack full of food every Friday of the school year. They are also able to receive sacks of food for any younger siblings at home, and will receive extra food over long weekends and school vacations.

Last year was our first year to have Backpacks for Kids. We began on one campus and by the end of the school year were providing packs of food to more than 100 students on six campuses in Brown County.

Help us help chronically hungry students in Brown County by making a donation to Backpacks for Kids. $4.50 is all it takes to provide a backpack for one student to take home on Friday or $162 for the year. We also need volunteers to help put the backpacks together and/or deliver them to the campuses. If you’d like to donate, volunteer or for more information, call the GSM office at 643-2273.