Give $100, Fill a Child's Backpack With Weekend Food for a Year

Every day until Christmas Eve, Rochester Patch is past your front porch to people and organizations across the area. Have a local cause or nonprofit you'd like us to write about? Tell us in the comments or send an email to kristin.bull@patch.com.

Day 14: Donate money, fill a backpack

Throughout the year, Blessings in a Backpack works to fill the needs of local children whose families have trouble feeding them over the weekend. These children also qualify for government-subsided reduced fee or free hot lunches during the school week.

Blessings in a Backpack collects money and accepts items, such as cereals and other non-perishable items, from area business and residents, many of whom are encouraged to head up their own food drive. Then, every weekend kids in need are sent home with the backpacks full of goodies. Over the holidays, Blessings in a Backpack will still be packing food to cover weekend meal plans.

“It’s actually easier for us to have monetary donations because that way we can buy everything and ensure every single backpack is filled,” Cheryl Whitton, chairperson of the Blessings in a Backpack Michigan Advisory Board, said. “All of the money raised goes to support the program and it stays in local communities.”

Whitton noted that donors can designate which local program they would like their money to go towards. She also said that $100 can pay for a child to receive a backpack for an entire school year.

In addition to donations, Whitton said Blessings in a Backpack is always looking for people to assist with packing. Each school branch of the organization packs at a different location, the majority of them on Wednesday or Thursday.

For more information on how to donate, visit Blessings in a Backpack’s website at www.blessingsinabackpackmi.org or call Whitton at 248-528-1060. She is also the person to contact for volunteer inquiries.

More ways to give back this season: