The Friday Packs Program
Our Friday Pack Program, piloted in 2004 at Sunset Lake Elementary School in Vicksburg, Michigan, provides backpacks of food each Friday to children at risk of hunger over the weekends. Children who suffer from hunger can experience serious health problems, including impaired cognitive development, stunted physical growth, physical weakness, and anemia. Lack of food can also profoundly affect childrens' academic performance. Friday packs have been so effective in meeting this need that we are now in all five schools in the Vicksburg District. We have also consulted with the Kalamazoo Public Schools and have assisted them in the creation of their own program. As other schools express interest, we will expand as resources allow.
What began as an operation which functioned from a closet-sized room at Sunset Lake Elementary has now expanded to a program which serves over 120 Vicksburg Community Schools students each week from a 4000 square foot warehouse. Hundreds of community volunteers are involved. The grassroots support by the community of Vicksburg and the Greater Kalamazoo area enabled us to win a 2006 Star Award for Community Service as well as the American Humanics Student Association of Western Michigan University award for the Best Emerging Non-Profit Organization of 2006.
How the program works
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Generous Hands, Inc. is able to obtain nutritious, low-cost food from local food banks. Volunteers staff our warehouse at 502 West Highway St., Vicksburg, Michigan. Each week, a variety of kid-friendly foods are placed in backpacks, which are then picked up by each school's Generous Hands site coordinator to be placed in children's lockers.
Children are confidentially recommended by the staff at their school. A parent information packet is sent home, including a permission slip. Each child is then assigned a number.
Children receive their numbered backpacks each Friday afternoon. All packs are returned on Monday to be refilled for the following Friday. During the summer, families are offered the opportunity to continue receiving Friday Packs each week, but they must be picked up at our warehouse. Spartan coupons are also still distributed during the summer.