Suffer the little children

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The program is called Backpack Buddies. http://backpack-buddies.org/

In short, it sends food home each Friday with elementary school children who probably would not get another meal until school takes in Monday morning.

Peanut Butter. Not just for snacks any more.

In my community, this program costs $202 for the whole year. That is: Friday night supper, breakfast, lunch and supper Saturday and Sunday, two weekend snacks and a jar of peanut butter once a month with a weekly sleeve of crackers for the peanut butter. There's also enough to supply younger children who are not yet in school.

The food is sent home each Friday with the student in the backpack. Backpack comes back Monday for a refill on Friday.

Excuse me while I calm down. I'm gonna need to calm down several times as I write this piece. Not for the reasons you now think. I know where this column is going and it's that which makes me need to periodically pause.

When this program was brought up at the Chamber of Commerce meeting this morning, I immediately wondered how many backpacks would get back to school on Monday morning. Considering the children this food goes to, I would expect the backpacks to disappear.

Break time.

Ok. So in addition to my thinking the kids would wreck the backpacks I also know the parents would have no problem in taking the backpack to a flea market, getting a buck or two for it and pocketing the money.

The way it should be.

A few years ago, one child in our school system stopped coming to school. Teachers went to find out why.

Child had no shoes.

Teachers went and bought shoes for the child. Next day in school. Then, out again.

Another check at home.

The entity which birthed the child took the shoes for itself.

break time

I was not told the name of the entity in question. The people who told me of this child knew better than to tell me the entity's name. It probably would have not had feet if I'd been able to get ahold of it.

Anyway, that's what I was thinking when I wondered about the backpacks making it back to school.

Then, the lady who was presenting the program and asking for donations said the kids in the program

break time

Ahem.

Anyway, the kids in the program take steps to make sure the entities in the home do not get to the food. She enumerated ways this happens. As I took notes, Ray Jordan suggested I not write that down as it would tip those entities off the backpack food. I marked my notes out.

While I do not believe those entities are capable of reading, must less finding and understanding this commentary, I shall not provide any additional detail.

I will not provide you with pictures of starving children here. You can go get that yourself.

Since the kids have sense enough to do as suggested above, I also believe they are smart enough to keep up with the backpack and make sure it gets back to school on Monday.

While I do not have enough money to "adopt" a kid for the year, I would do so if I could. 47 children in my town are so identified as being at risk of not having food over the weekend.

It is also a good idea for me to not know who these children are.

If I knew them, then I'd take steps to inform the entities in these children's lives about how actions have consequences and sometimes those consequences are in the form of a very large, rather intelligent redneck fully capable to making necessary adjustments to such an entity.

Anyway, my personal thanks to all who are "adopting" a kid in the Backpack Buddies program. I encourage you to try and set one of these up in your community. If you need more details about ours, please let me know.