"Back Pack Snack Pack" by CORI

"Back Pack Snack Pack" by CORI - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

According to the “Ohio Poverty Report” there is an estimated 1.58 million people living below the poverty line. The overall average for the state of Ohio is 14% while the national average is 13.4%. In my hometown community of Ross County, Ohio the poverty rate is 18.2% (12,925 people). Forty percent of those people are single mothers with children. These young children suffer the most and are helpless when it comes to eating properly. Throughout the school year many children are only able to eat during the school day. So what are they supposed to eat when school is out for the summer? If I was given a $10k grant, I would start up a summertime backpack program similar to Feed America. The difference is, my community is in rural area where houses are spread out and spaced far apart. I have previously volunteered for “Meals on Wheels” and would like to combine their concept with the “Backpack” program of Feeding America, for an entire summer. Twice a week, we could send out volunteer drivers with addresses and backpacks with enough food to keep the child fed until school resumes. The name of the program would be called “Ross County Back Pack Snack Pack Program”.
In order to determine the greatest need in my community we would reserch the percentage of children in each school who currently qualify to receive free or reduced-price school meals. As much as we would like to help every child in that school, we would start out with only a select number of children so we do not go over budget. We would reach out to food distributors to get pricing for bulk milk cartons and other products. We would organize food drive donation points throughout the community and reach out to potential donors as well. We would schedule a meeting with the principal, school food service supervisor, a dietician and a local church representative. The church will serve as a storage, assembly and pick up location. This program would be a non-profit that would heavily rely on countless volunteer hours. As the program director, I would like to establish a relationship with the local courts as place for low level, non-violent criminals to complete community service, or high school/college students looking for volunteer opportunities. The incentive for the students is that they could put “Ross County Back Pack Snack Pack” on their resume and they could use us for a letter of recommendation. We could partner with the local college and future dietician students could assist with developing healthy, well-balanced meal plans as part of an internship. The overall goal would be to implement a county wide program that would feed every child in need in all six school districts during the summertime.
The reason behind choosing to utilize this $10k grant is because many of my friends, myself included, grew up in single parent homes. A close childhood friend of mine was on the free lunch program from kindergarten all the way through high school. She grew up in a household with parents that lived a life of crime and drug abuse. I don’t remember her complaining about receiving the free lunch option, but what I do remember is when she would ask me for any leftover food I had. She asked so frequently that I would just always pack extra food for her just in case she was hungry or so she could save it for home and eat it later. During the summertime she would always want to stay at my house because she knew we had food and she would be able to get a full night’s sleep without waking up to arguing parents or even worse, the police. When we got to high school, her parents were both on their way back to prison and my mother welcomed my best friend into our home. I am glad to say that my best friend is now a Tech Sergeant (E6) in the United States Air Force and has beat the stereotypical statistics that most children in her situation fall victim too. This program is something that would bring people together from all walks of life and fulfill a critical need in my community.