Blessings in a Backpack Assisting the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District

Back: Hannah McKinney, Tommy Smith, and Lindsay Paredes Front: Maggie Smith and Logan Paredes

Two years ago, Janice Davis, better known as JD, was watching an evening special on TV with her husband. They learned about a phenomenon they had never heard of before—millions of children going hungry on the weekends when not receiving food from the free and reduced lunch programs at their schools.

At the time, Davis was hunting for a volunteer opportunity. She discovered that a few different national organizations devoted themselves to the cause of weekend meals for children, but that these groups were in the habit of taking 20 percent or more of what the chapters raised. When Davis came across Blessings in a Backpack—a national nonprofit that keeps none of the funds raised by chapters but provides endless support—however, it was a true blessing. “They’re there at the drop of an email,” she says.

Davis and her husband now serve weekend food (six meals and two snacks) to 50 children in each of four different Folsom-Cordova Unified School District elementary schools, with two additional schools being added in the coming school year. “I have more schools who want to get on the program than we have funds for,” says Davis.
While many students qualify for free and reduced lunch at school, Blessings in a Backpack seeks to only feed those who truly need the weekend food. Davis’ roster of kids is informed by each of the school’s teachers, principal, and counselors; to keep it discreet, teachers place the bags of food in the students’ backpacks during Friday recess.

Initially, junior volunteers would help pack the food bags at the Davis’ church, but with new sports seasons causing the loss of young volunteers and the church often needing the space for other functions, it was getting chaotic. Then Davis noticed a new opportunity. “When I pulled up after school, the kids would flock to my car to help us unload the food,” she explains. Realizing that these kids were aching to help, she now delivers the bulk items and has the student councils or after-school clubs pack the bags. “I have students at each of my schools pack the food bags, because we believe that kids helping kids just helps to create a little more kindness amongst others,” she says.