A Welcome Warehouse volunteer hands out free books to children. Photos courtesy of Welcome Warehouse
Have you heard that good things come in small packages? Well, to some Dublin children, the best things come in backpacks. Two philanthropic organizations with local volunteers help provide food for hungry children and new school supply kits for students, and all in backpacks.
Blessings in a Backpack
Second-grade teacher Nicole Durant sat in her Albert Chapman Elementary School classroom talking to one of her students. She asked if he was excited because it was Friday and the start of the weekend. The little boy told her that he likes the days when he sees the school bus because he knows he’s going to eat that day. He was living in his mom’s car and on the free and reduced lunch program during the school week.
Nicole went home and hugged her husband, Mike, and her children, Cole, Annie and Mia.
“We need to do something,” Nicole says. “I’ve lived in Dublin since the fourth grade and haven’t encountered this before. No one should live like that.”
She did an Internet search and found Blessings in a Backpack, a national organization that feeds 83,000-plus children over the weekends across 46 states and in 900 schools.
Nicole received permission from her principal to get the program started at Chapman under the condition she fund it herself. At first, it was a family affair of shopping for non-perishable food items, buying and stuffing the backpacks and distributing them to students in the free lunch program. Soon, friends pitched in, and then local civic groups, sports teams and homerooms helped with the funding and physical work.
Henry Karrer Middle School, Dublin Jerome High School and Dublin Coffman High School all have classes that volunteer to pack bags and do projects with the kindergartners once a month. A local Girl Scout troop donates cookies and the District Dodgeball Tournament chose Blessings in a Backpack as one of its charities this year.
The consequences of hunger are more than a growling stomach. Hunger in children is also tied to increased hospitalization, weak immune systems, shorter attention spans, lower IQs and lower academic achievement.
Nicole Durant is interviewed by one of Dr. Oz's show producers
The most unusual call that Nicole has received came from the office of TV personality Dr. Oz. The producer heard about Nicole bringing the Blessings in a Backpack program to Chapman, and said it was rare for a teacher to implement it. The television show visited the school and followed Nicole around for a day.
“It was so nerve-wracking,” Nicole says.
She was also invited to New York City to appear on the show.
“Dr. Oz was friendly and genuine, and gave me a big hug off camera when we finished shooting,” says Nicole.
Mike and Mia Durant still shop weekly for the majority of the food for the backpacks, which are packed up and handed out on Fridays. Occasionally, a child will ask for a bag every day because he or she has no food at home. The Durants help make that happen, and say the kids are very excited to receive the bags and always anxious to look inside and show their friends what they have.
How can you help? Consider asking for financial or food donations at your next neighborhood gathering. Ideas include canned goods, granola bars, peanut butter, oatmeal, applesauce and macaroni and cheese. Riverside and Wright elementary schools also promote and distribute Blessings in a Backpack.
Welcome Warehouse: Back to School Outreach
Nicole Durant's children, Cole, Annie and Mia, work on stuffing backpacks for children
Jean Griffith has been executive director of Welcome Warehouse for four years and runs several programs, including Adopt a Family, the Bed Donation Program and Back to School Outreach. On Aug. 6, from 9 a.m. to noon at Indian Run Methodist Church, volunteers for Welcome Warehouse will cook breakfast, run carnival games, do face-painting and hand out children’s books, back-to-school clothes and backpacks with school supply kits. The goal this year is to provide 450 students with elementary, middle or high school supply kits.
The Welcome Warehouse also holds an online drive where donors can pick out their purchases online and have them shipped directly to the organization’s offices at Indian Run Methodist Church. They have received funding and grants from generous organizations such as the Dublin Foundation, Macy’s, ASK Chemical, Franklin Country Metro Parks, SafeAuto Insurance, Thirty-One Gifts, Kidsmiles Dental Clinic and the Dublin Jerome Boys Golf Team.
Welcome Warehouse collects items throughout the year, including three-ring binders, permanent markers, tissues, binders and glue sticks.
“We often have teachers or guidance counselors calling us and asking for particular items for students who don’t have the extra money to spend on school supplies,” Griffith says.
Welcome Warehouse also provides new or gently used mattress sets and bed frames for children and distributes them free of charge via its Bed Donation Program.
Good things may come in small packages, but the best things in life are free, like the giving of your time and energy to make a positive difference in someone’s life.
Colleen D’Angelo is a freelance writer who lives in Dublin with her husband, three children and several small animals. She enjoys playing tennis, walking the Dublin bike paths and traveling.
