Sharing food, bringing hope: Buddy packs hit the spot

Ten-year-old Amiyha, a fourth-grader at Field Elementary, shines. She’s tall and athletic — a shoe-in for the basketball team — and she loves math. She’s also willing to embrace her feminine side. Every week, she carries to and from school a pink backpack emblazoned with the word Princess.

Inside is the kind of gift every parent dreams of giving his or her child. It gets used nearly every day, encourages sharing and responsibility and fosters academic success. It brings joy to recipients and givers alike, and it nourishes the body and mind.

It’s called a Buddy Pack, and Amiyha is one of about 3,200 area children who receives one. Distributed through area public schools in conjunction with the Central Missouri Food Bank, Buddy Packs offer reassurance to families trying to scrape by. Children bring them home during weekends or school breaks and return them to be filled the following week.

“It will last us two or three weeks,” said Amiyha, who places the pack’s contents in the kitchen cabinet when she gets home. Her mother, who’s currently out of work and studying to become a surgical tech, came up with the idea. “That way when we ask for a snack or something, she’ll say, ‘Look in the cabinet.’” The packs, which students share with siblings and family members, are filled with nutritious foods such as peanut butter, applesauce, granola bars — and Amiyha’s personal favorite, Slim Jims.

“That is the ultimate favorite,” said Tara Collier, a home school communicator at Field Elementary who coordinates the school’s social services programs including Buddy Packs. “Lately, we’ve been getting Slim Jims on a regular basis, but last year we really felt the crunch, and we rarely got them.”

At Field, 60 to 70 students receive the packs, compared with about 30 two years ago. Collier has developed her list of recipients from children receiving free and reduced lunches, parent requests and teacher referrals. At one point last year, the economic downturn more than doubled the need for the packs. This year, requests continue to come in.

“Every day a teacher or a counselor will come to me and say, ‘Do you know so-and-so’s Dad is out of work or is experiencing a hardship, and can we get them on the list?’” said Collier, who holds a master’s degree in social work and acts as a liaison between home and school. “It’s a supplemental program. It isn’t meant to supply groceries, but every little bit helps. For a lot of families, it’s an extra boost, especially at the end of the month.”

In linking family needs to resources such as Buddy Packs, Collier has witnessed increased confidence in many of the students. Teachers notice improvements as well, especially in attentiveness and in the discipline children develop by returning backpacks to be refilled.

“I’ve seen a sad face on a Friday when a pack’s not there,” said Collier, referring to the occasional child who forgets to return his or her pack. She admitted to having a hard time saying no but recognizes it’s often a learning experience. “A student might say, ‘Mrs. Collier, I found it under my bed.’”

Although their intangible benefits are hard to quantify, Buddy Packs cost an estimated $100 per student for the entire school year. Volunteer hours and donations help offset the costs, but demand greatly outstrips supply. According to the Food Bank’s Peggy Kirkpatrick, there are nearly 45,000 children in central and northeastern Missouri living in poverty. Meeting the need would take a lot of new Buddy Packs. To know exactly how many, perhaps Amiyha could do the math.

The Food Bank greatly appreciates donations of cash, backpacks and kid-friendly foods. Items such as pudding, peanut butter, granola bars, pop top pasta, dried fruit and other easy-to-open snacks work well. For more information, call Bobbie KIncade, director of Community Outreach at the Central Missouri Food Bank, at 573-474-1020 or 800-764-3663.