BP Backpack Program still making a difference after 2 years

Blooming Prairie's Backpack Program has made a difference after two years in operation, claims coordinator Karen Peterson.
The Blooming Prairie schools Backpack Program sends home meals for kids who need some healthy nutrition on the weekend.
Volunteers who work with the program say it is their way to paying the community back for what the community does for them.
The program evolved in the fall of 2016 when two local parents, Karen Peterson and Stephanie Bruggeman, initiated conversations about starting a backpack food program that would benefit kids on the weekend.
Peterson and Bruggeman reached out to Principal Chris Staloch and to social worker Renae Berg to see if the program might work in Blooming Prairie.
"We want to see kids get enough to eat and we will not deny food to any family," said Peterson.
Mankato is involved in the program, Peterson says, and sends meals home to over 850 kids. Seventeen different schools in Blue Earth County participate in the program, Peterson said.
The Feeding America Backpack Program has existed on a national level for 15 years. It helps children get the nutritious and easy-to-prepare food they need to get enough to eat on the weekends.
It has been reported that 22 million children receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program.
Today, bags of food are assembled at more than 160 local food banks and then distributed to more than 450,000 children at the end of the week. For many of these children, school meals may be the only meals they eat.
Food started to be sent home with 37 Blooming Prairie area kids, mainly elementary students, in February of 2017.
Peterson said 47 youngsters pre-kindergarten through eighth grade are currently benefiting from the program. Suzi Burt is co-coordinator of the Backpack program.
Blooming Prairie's Backpack Program has been tweaked along the way and has become better organized, says Peterson, while looking back on the two years of experience.
In addition to Peterson and Burt, other board members are: Becky Hoffman, treasurer; Debi Watkins, secretary; Kristi Jorgenson, director and Judy Richard, director.
The local Backpack Program gained support of the school district and also of First Lutheran Church and St. Columbanus Catholic Church.
 
First Lutheran has been the financial vehicle for the program. First Lutheran signed the application in cooperation with the Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester.
Donations keep the program going. Two sizable donations of $1,100 each were given by Central Farm Services and by Land O'Lakes.
The Target Store in Owatonna recently donated 6,000 shopping bags that are used to package the food on a weekly basis. B to Z Hardware also supplied some bags.
To emphasize the Biblical Feeding of the 5,000, Red Oak Lutheran church donated 66 cans of tuna and 44 jars of peanut butter.
A special black tie fundraiser is planned for the BP Servicemen's Club on Feb. 16. Music will be provided by "Relativity." The BP Backpack Program will get a percentage of tickets sold.
The evening starts with a social at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available from board members, Peterson said.
In the beginning, the food was stored in Bill Rinkenberger's vocational agriculture classroom at Blooming Prairie High School.
Becky Hoffman of St. Columbanus Catholic Church then offered a church classroom as a staging area each week for the food distribution. Amber Konz schedules Faith and Formations kids, grades 1-12, to work on the program. It's part of "Acts of Service."
The food is packed on Wednesdays and goes home with the kids on Thursdays. Karen said it usually takes 5-6 kids 20 minutes to pack the food. She says she has done it with as few as two volunteers.
The local Backpack program became its own corporation last March with local attorney Jason Iacovino preparing the paper work. Karen filed a form 1023 to make the program a non-profit entity.
Now, the local Backpack Program can apply for grants and vouch for its needs.