MORIAH | A grant from the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation will help keep Moriah Central School’s BackPack Program for needy kids rolling.
The BackPack Program just received a grant for $1,000 from the foundation, whose primary focus is assisting not-for-profit entities within the Adirondack Park that help improve the quality of life for year-round residents of the park.
A donation of $183 feeds one child for an entire school year and all donations are tax-deductible, the program’s Val Mildon said.
“We have over 70 volunteers that help support the operation of the program by serving on committees, picking up food deliveries, packing backpacks, distributing the backpacks to the students and so on,” she said. “It would not be possible to provide these students with a backpack without the generous donation from sponsors such as the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Foundation. We are extremely grateful for their generous donation to help us in our efforts to combat childhood hunger.”
Moriah’s BackPack Program started in October 2015, supplying 30 backpacks to students with nutritious meals on the weekends and extended school breaks.
This year the program will be supplying 37 students with a backpack of food, Mildon said.
The effort to start this program was championed by a freshman student at Moriah, Brooke Mildon, as her Gold Award project for Girl Scouts.
Brooke continues to work with the program by setting up schedules for people to pack backpacks, schedules for people to deliver backpacks, and prepares the milk cards for distribution. Mildon has a team that packs backpacks as well.
The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children when other resources are not available to them. The program provides bags filled with food that is child friendly, shelf stable and easy to prepare.
The contents of the backpack vary each week, but contain a variety of nutritious items, including juice, fresh fruits, canned vegetables, breakfast and dinner entrées and a Stewart’s Shops Milk Card for one gallon of milk every other week.
One hundred percent of the grant money received will be used to purchase food for the backpacks through the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, Mildon said.
Donations received between now and Nov. 17 will be matched by the Walmart Stores matching funds program.
For more information, contact Val Mildon, Moriah Central School treasurer, at 518 546-3301, extension 506.
The Backpack Program is now providing added nutrition to 220 eligible children from six local schools: Ticonderoga, Crown Point, St. Mary’s, Putnam, and Schroon Lake.
