Brewer Elementary School Buddy Pack Project
We are SO excited about our newest Brewer Elementary School Partnership Project because it directly impacts the lives of the children we serve.
The Brewer Buddy Packs Project puts food into the backpacks of 80 children living in food-insecure households on a weekly basis. Here’s how it works: Brewer Elementary School teachers and counselors have identified 80 students living in food-insecure households. St. Thomas Episcopal Church then purchases a month’s supply of Buddy Packs from Feeding the Valley Food Bank at $3.50 each. (That’s 3.50 x 80 for $280 per week x 4 weeks for a total of $1,120 per month. For a 10 month school year that comes to $11,200 per year.)
The on site United Way representative at Brewer then distributes Buddy Packs to teachers who discreetly place them in student backpacks on Friday afternoons. Buddy Packs include such things as easy to open cans of food items, granola bars, and juice boxes. In this way, children whose most reliable source of meals is from school breakfasts and school lunches are also provided help with meals over the weekends. This costs us a little over $125 per child. This program helps to reduce the stress of children living in hunger and not only improves the quality of their lives but their school performance as well.
Here’s what you can do to help:
Donate. Please write a check or donate online to St. Thomas Episcopal Church Brewer Buddy Pack Program. Just specify Online or note on your check that your donation is for the Brewer Buddy Pack Program. $14 supports one child for a month. $125 supports one child for a year. $280 supports 80 children for a week. $1,120 supports 80 children for a month. Any amount helps. Consider giving a year’s worth of Buddy Packs to a student in honor of a loved one for Christmas!
Volunteer. Volunteers are needed one Tuesday a month to pick up Buddy Packs from Feeding the Valley and deliver them to Brewer Elementary School. We meet at Feeding the Valley at 9:00 am and are finished at Brewer by 10:00 am. The next dates to volunteer are December 5 and January 9. Please sign up on this sign up sheet to volunteer! This Brewer Buddy Pack Project between St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Brewer Elementary School, Feeding the Valley Food Bank and the United Way shows what we can do to change lives when we work together. Thank you all for supporting our work!
Please contact Margo Easterbrook or Libba Russell for further information.
