September 2017
THANK YOU for some generous donations we’ve received in the last month:
Trinity Health donated $5270 at their summer picnic.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church donated $1023 from their Cruise for a Cause event
DREAM DINNERS! A wonderful time was had by all, putting together such luscious meals as Dill Marinated Shrimp with Pasta, Lemon Villa Chicken with Garlic Asparagus Spears, and Sizzling Sirloin Beef Fried Rice. We all went home with 3 meals for our families, having also snacked on some pretty yummy samples. And to top it off, $10 from every purchase was donated to Blessings in a Backpack-Livonia. Talk about a win-win situation!
Welcome to new Steering Committee members! We are excited to have 3 new members join our team: Denise Murray, Heather Belcher, and Cindy Larson! It is great to have new ideas and energy on board!
“Blessings in a Backpack-Livonia” is part of the national Blessings in a Backpack program that addresses the problem of childhood hunger. Each week backpacks are packed by volunteers and distributed to the participating Livonia Public School children who are considered “food insecure”.
Currently, we provide eligible children at Garfield Elementary, Rosedale Elementary, Kennedy Elementary, Randolph Elementary, Webster Elementary, and Johnson Upper Elementary in Livonia, Michigan with weekend food backpacks during the school year, for a total of 225 children. In the summer, we send home big boxes of cereal in our attempt to answer the need for summertime nutritional assistance.
In Livonia Public Schools, there are nearly 4,000 students eligible for free or reduced lunches. Many of these children do not receive sufficient meals or nutrition on the weekend either. The unfortunate result is that many students return to school on Mondays tired and hungry and are unable to concentrate or care about their studies. There is still a lot of work for BIAB-Livonia to do!
Blessings in a Backpack – Livonia is run by a group of volunteers from Livonia who form the Steering Committee, and is associated with the national office of Blessings in a Backpack (http://blessingsinabackpack.org/). Meijer Food supplies the food to fill our backpacks at a greatly reduced price. It costs BIAB-Livonia $100 – $110 to feed a child each weekend for a school year.
