Please visit us at www.lfbp.org
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
A new look is coming!
With the help of a skilled professional web/graphic designer, this rudimentary blog I created to raise awareness about our non-profit organization is going to be replaced with better information, easier to read text, far better graphics, a professional look, and links to relevant sites. Watch for the change..........It is coming!
In the meantime, thank you to everyone who has so tirelessly and graciously donated time, money, and food to allow the program to grow and reach more children.
A new school year is about to begin. We will be feeding more children, and always looking for ways to include more. They deserve our help. Thank you for your support!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Hunger issues and the children of Union County
Monday, February 2, 2009
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
World hunger is not disputed. Hunger in America is not disputed. Hunger in our own state and city, while not disputed, understandably does not reach the front pages of national news.
Photos and statistics of hunger depict great desperation and evoke reactions of sorrow and often incredulity when confronted with the scope of this atrocity.
Words, reaction and attention from "ordinary" to citizens to celebrities, moving tributes of global awareness, have created a demand for involvement, promoting and encouraging all of us to become agents of change in addressing this atrocity.
All these efforts are to recognized and commended.
The children of Union County, those children who experience food insecurity, who have not expressed their appreciation for these acts of humanity must be excused for their lack of enthusiasm. Many of them are too hungry to concentrate on what transpires beyond the memory of their last meal and the anxiety of uncertainty concerning when they may eat again.
The physical pain of an empty stomach permeates into every aspect of their day. Instead of scurrying to gather their homework in the morning, their lunch bag, and latest trinket for show and tell, they are searching for any morsel of food. Instead of the excitement of getting to school to see their friends, make plans for after school play or sports, their eagerness is fueled by anticipation of the free breakfast awarded them for their eligibility based on income.
The mission of the Friday Backpack Program is to address these children. Each Thursday packs of supplemental food are put together by volunteers. These bags are then delivered to the school, and on Fridays school personnel add these bags to those children's backpacks. In many cases this may be the only food they see all weekend. A small group of volunteers, serving a modest 10 children in October to 50 children in January, is gaining momentum thanks to the benevolence of area businesses, service organizations, churches, and others. Our sincere and profound thanks to all of you: Caring individuals who volunteer, donate, and remember our children!
Linda Holman Engle
La Grande, Oregon
Support from service organizations
Letters and Comments for July 10, 2009 ****This is an excerpt from a letter to the editor from member of the La Grande Lion's Club, one of many service organizations recognizing and helping Friday Backpack. Busy year for La Grande Lions To the Editor: .........We gave funds to ................(many were included!) two of my personal favorites — the Friday BackPack program ...... |
Support Friday Backpack/March 2, 2009
To the Editor:
On behalf of the Friday Backpack Program, and as a member of the advisory board and volunteer, I would like to shout out a huge thank you to The Observer for the great editorial in Thursday’s paper. Endorsing this program in such a public forum is gratifying as well as extremely helpful in getting the word out.
Along with a sincere thank you to those of you at the paper, including Dick Mason who wrote the lengthy article about our program, I want to offer a huge thank you to the unselfish, altruistic people in this community who have shown their generosity in such a bountiful way! This program would not be possible without these people.
The day the editorial was printed we made our first delivery to a second school that will now be receiving weekly food packs. This community has shared our vision. Their donations of food and money illustrate how compassionate they are. Thank you to all.
Linda Holman Engle
La Grande
TAKE A BITE OUT OF HUNGER
Take a bite out of hunger
| Kitchen table issues matter. Proof is the new Friday Backpack program, which is taking a bite out of hunger at Island City Elementary School. The two key words that describe the program are caring and sharing. It’s all about overcoming, in these uncertain economic times, the complacency of the haves and the forgottenness of the have-nots. Through the Friday Backpack program, children from low-income families each Friday are provided with bags of food, which they take home. All the bags are donated or purchased with contributed money. This is a significant source of food for children of low-income families over a weekend.
• Cook Memorial Library • Island City Elementary School • The Oregon State University Extension office in Island City • The Zion Lutheran, Nazarene and First Presbyterian churches in La Grande • Grande Ronde Retirement Residence • Bugs and Butterflies • The J. Burcart Law office, 902A Sixth St.
La Grande 97850. Let’s get together as a community and help this important program expand to serve more needy children and their families throughout the region. |
Fighting Child Hunger--La Grande Observer news article
Fighting child hunger
 The child was riding home on a school bus during a recent Friday afternoon. Suddenly he looked up and told its driver — “I’m so lucky, I get to have dinner tonight!’’ Linda Holman Engle of La Grande, a community volunteer, felt elated and a little sad when the boy’s words were later relayed to her. She explained that the boy is one of 50 children being assisted by the new Friday Backpack Program — a program taking a bite out of child hunger at Island City Elementary. Through the program children from low-income families are provided with bags of food each Friday, which they take home. The bags weigh about 6 pounds and are filled with items such as canned tuna, chicken, soup, Rice a Roni, oatmeal, granola, fruit drinks, fruit and pudding cups and much more. All are donated or purchased with contributed money. Often the items prove to be significant sources of food for children of low-income families over the course of a weekend. “It warms my heart when I see how excited they are to get the food,’’ Engle said. At the same time, Engle feels sadness upon hearing about children like the boy on the bus because his excitement indicates how desperate the home situation is for many children. “I get tears in my eyes though thinking that this is all we can do for them,’’ Engle said. Engle is one of about 18 volunteers who help run the local Friday Backpack Program. The volunteers collect and purchase food and bring it to a pantry at The Church of Christ in La Grande. Each Tuesday they record the weight of new food brought in and on Thursday they pack it into bags. The food is brought to Island City Elementary on Fridays. Backpack volunteer Carlene Crampton remembers how excited a student got when he saw the food being brought in one Friday. “Wow! It looks like you are going to have a party,’’ the boy said. The students receiving the food have reason to feel as happy as the merriest of party-goers. They often feel pride. “It gives children a sense of self-worth to bring food home for the family,’’ Crampton said. Children are proud to bring home food but some might be embarrassed to have their classmates know of their family’s needy status. The means of distribution at Island City Elementary is thus designed to prevent others from knowing who receives the food. All items are put in the students’ backpacks. Since almost all children bring backpacks to school it is easy for students receiving food to keep it a secret. Children receiving food who do not have backpacks are provided one. The local Friday Backpack Program is part of a nationwide effort that started in Iowa several years ago. Island City students first began receiving food via the Friday Backpack Program on Oct. 24. Food for 10 children was first provided. Donations since then have increased so much that today 50 children from 37 families are provided with food each Friday. Such growth reflects the remarkable community support the program is receiving. “Little miracles keep happening,’’ Engle said. She noted that she recently spoke at a meeting of the La Grande Noon Lions Club about the Friday Backpack program. She left with $260 in donations. “It is in people’s spirit to give if you provide them with a cause,’’ Engle said. The many other people stepping forward include local grocery store managers. Engle noted that recently someone was purchasing a sale item for which there was a limit of six per customer. A store manager then discovered that the food was being purchased for Friday Backpack and said “Go ahead and get 12.’’ Friday Backpack items are often purchased by volunteers who are astute bargain hunters. “They are super shoppers, coupon queens who smell out a deal in a pantry,’’ Engle said. All Backpack food purchased must meet nutritional requirements regarding calories, fat, sugar, protein and fiber. Friday Backpack volunteer Sherry Olsen said people outside the program sometimes get frustrated when they see the restrictions. Some ask if they can make a donation instead and have Backpack volunteers purchase the food. “I tell them, ‘No problem, I love to shop, that is what women do best,’” Olsen said. Donations to Friday Backpack are tax-deductible because the program is run under the umbrella of the First Presbyterian Church in La Grande. The connection provides Friday Backpack with 501(c)(3) tax deduction status. The pantry space at The Church of Christ is provided free of charge. Each bag of food Island City students receive has about $10 worth of food, Friday Backpack volunteer Barbara Hicks said. Food that will help children grow physically and intellectually. A hungry child does not learn well, Hicks said. “A hungry child is like a car without gas — if it doesn’t have fuel (food), it can’t learn.’’ Engle, who earlier taught grade school in Western Oregon, concurs. She witnessed for years how desperate children from low income families get for food. “Kids are resilient but as an educator I know children are not resistant to hunger. “It upsets them and they will not do homework (if hungry).’’ In Western Oregon Engle saw the desperate measures hungry children took to get food. “They would barter with others: a pencil for that candy bar or the promise of letting them be first in line first the next day if they (classmates) shared a sack of chips with them,’’ Engle said. She feels compelled to reach out to children, for despite their strength, energy and resiliency, they are sometimes powerless. “We can control our environment. They cannot control theirs,’’ Engle said. For some children prolonged hunger is a new experience because of the sinking economy. “They may have taken for granted at one time that there would be food in the fridge and then suddenly with layoffs ... not only are tempers tense in the house, but there is a scarcity of food.” Other children have lived with food insecurity all their lives, Engle said. “They don’t know what it’s like to get up in the morning and be able to choose what to have for breakfast, to give their input about what goes into their sack lunch and to know that there will be some kind of snacks when they come home from school. Everyday for these kids is an uncertainty. They go to bed hungry. They wake up hungry and they have no resources to go out and find food.’’ Island City Elementary was selected for the Friday Backpack Program because a high percentage of its students qualify for free and reduced-cost lunches because they are from low-income families. Friday Backpack leaders hope to expand their program to other Union County schools in the near future, Engle said. Drop sites for people who want to make food contributions are at the following locations: • Cook Memorial Library • Island City Elementary School • the Oregon State University Extension office in Island City • the Zion Lutheran, Nazarene and First Presbyterian churches in La Grande • Grande Ronde Retirement Residence • Bugs and Butterflies • the J. Burcart Law office, 902A Sixth St. Donation checks should be mailed to Friday Backpack Program, 1308 Washington Ave., La Grande 97850. |
Feeding hungry children: letter to the editor
LETTER TO THE EDITOR, La Grande Observer
Feeding hungry children
To the Editor:
It is the end of the school week and some children may miss school, have stomach aches, act agressively or horde food. These are potential signs of a “food insecure” child — a child who does not know if there will be enough food to eat over the weekend. During the week these children participate in the school breakfast and lunch programs but the weekends may be bleak with not enough food for even two meals a day.
A new program is beginning to address the plight of “hungry children” in the
La Grande School District. The Friday Backpack Program provides a bag of food to children on Fridays during the school year to help keep hunger at bay until Monday breakfast at their school.
On MLK Day, people gathered at Zion Lutheran Church to hear about the program. This was part of the National Day of Service and many people attended in response to then President-elect Obama’s call for action in remaking America.
Did you know that an Oregon full-time minimum wage worker earns $8.40 an hour — $17,472 a year? That’s below the federal poverty line for a family of three. No wonder children worry about being hungry.
What can you do?
• Ask Congress to include funding for critical anti-hunger programs in the economic stimulus package legislation. Go to Feedingamerica.org to make your voice heard.
• Consistently donate to the local Friday Backpack Program. Some items needed: instant oatmeal packets, protein bars, mac and cheese boxes, vegetable beef soup, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, instant hot chocolate, pudding cups, 4.2-ounce boxes of 100 percent fruit juice, 5-ounce canned tuna or chicken and ravioli/Spaghettios.
Drop the food into the lime green containers at Cook Memorial Library, OSU Extension Service on North McAlister, First Presbyterian Church or Grande Ronde Retirement Residence in La Grande.
For more information, call 963-3953.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
World hunger is not disputed. Hunger in America is not disputed. Hunger in our own state and city, while not disputed, understandably does not reach the front pages of national news.
Photos and statistics of hunger depict great desperation and evoke reactions of sorrow and often incredulity when confronted with the scope of this atrocity.
Words, reaction and attention from "ordinary" to citizens to celebrities, moving tributes of global awareness, have created a demand for involvement, promoting and encouraging all of us to become agents of change in addressing this atrocity.
All these efforts are to recognized and commended.
The children of Union County, those children who experience food insecurity, who have not expressed their appreciation for these acts of humanity must be excused for their lack of enthusiasm. Many of them are too hungry to concentrate on what transpires beyond the memory of their last meal and the anxiety of uncertainty concerning when they may eat again.
The physical pain of an empty stomach permeates into every aspect of their day. Instead of scurrying to gather their homework in the morning, their lunch bag, and latest trinket for show and tell, they are searching for any morsel of food. Instead of the excitement of getting to school to see their friends, make plans for after school play or sports, their eagerness is fueled by anticipation of the free breakfast awarded them for their eligibility based on income.
The mission of the Friday Backpack Program is to address these children. Each Thursday packs of supplemental food are put together by volunteers. These bags are then delivered to the school, and on Fridays school personnel add these bags to those children's backpacks. In many cases this may be the only food they see all weekend. A small group of volunteers, serving a modest 10 children in October to 50 children in January, is gaining momentum thanks to the benevolence of area businesses, service organizations, churches, and others. Our sincere and profound thanks to all of you: Caring individuals who volunteer, donate, and remember our children!
Linda Holman Engle
La Grande, Oregon
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