Buddy Backpacks

Monday was a great day for several reasons, but I especially enjoyed being able to help pack 31 Buddy Backpacks.  These backpacks are filled with nutritious snacks to help some of our hungry kids make it through the long weekends or in this case weeks away from school breakfasts and lunches.  It's hard to imagine in this day and age that there are families out there who don't have food in the house to feed their children. The intermediate school sends home 55 of these backpacks.  It's quite a trick shopping for the food to go in these bags. We purchase a jar of peanut butter, raisins, pudding, canned fruit, easy open cans of Vienna sausages and ravioli, a tuna lunch kit, cereal, milk, juice, etc.  Then we take all the food to school and open up all the packages and organize it.  We put the heavy things in first and work our way up to the cereal.  One parent from school volunteered to take time off from work - her lunch break - and come sort all the food and pack it up. Betty Cribbs saw Caroline Sudbrock and I shopping one day, donated money and now helps pack the backpacks too. It ends up being a lot of food and a bit heavy, but these little 5, 6, and 7 year old kids are so happy to get them. Last year, I had a student ask me when they would get the next backpack because there wasn't any food in the house. It about broke my heart. So spending a couple of hours shopping and then packing these bags is actually a joy to do. See why it was such a good day? Then to top it all off, JoPapa and I drove to Branson so he could get some wood to carve. On the way back we stopped at Andy's and ate our dessert before supper! What a good way to end a good day - home again safe and sound.