New School Program to End Hunger One Backpack At a Time

Over the course of the past school year, local school district social workers and employees began to notice some alarming trends, particularly in regard to the number of students stockpiling food on Fridays and eating multiple breakfasts on Monday mornings.

Rough estimates in Hampton put the count around 50 elementary students engaging in this type of behavior because they didn't have any or enough food to last them through the weekend.

That number was alarming to Seacoast residents Michele Peckham and Margaret Schoenberger — enough for the duo to take action this fall through a new nonprofit, "End 68 Hours of Hunger," aimed at the heart of the problem.

"People don’t understand that there really is a hunger issue in our community," said Peckham, a North Hampton resident who also serves in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. "I didn’t know that until I started paying more attention and talking to these social workers. The fact that they can identify 50 kids is pretty amazing."

As a part of "End 68 Hours of Hunger," and students identified by employees will anonymously and discretely receive each Friday this year a $5 backpack filled with food items to last them through to the start of the upcoming school week.

Students will take home the backpacks, which will be filled by program volunteers on Thursdays, and bring them back to school the following week.

The items will be largely comprised of meals and snacks the young children can prepare for themselves, as it's possible the students are going hungry due to non-economic factors, said Peckham.

Peckham and Schoenberger are drawing inspiration from a Dover nonprofit by the same name, which was created last fall by Claire Bloom and has since grown to also serve parts of Somersworth, Alton, and Kittery, Maine. Peckham said Blum's work "sounded intriguing," and she said a newspaper article earlier this year made her want to bring the "great program" to the Hampton area.

The local duo worked with Bloom to adapt her program for Hampton's two elementary schools, and Peckham said Bloom will even "generously" donate money or food, in addition to supplies, to cover the cost of the first month of the program.

Unitil Corporation and Bottomline Technologies, of Portsmouth, have also partnered with the new nonprofit in order to cover the second and third months of the program, although Peckham said more does need to be done in order to ensure students have food for the remaining five months of the school year.

"End 68 Hours of Hunger" will host its first food drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 12, at in the hopes of collecting money and food to cover some of those remaining five months. A list of the desired food, which will be collected throughout the year through different fundraisers and events, is attached to this story as a PDF.

Most of the program's food items are premade, prepackaged or processed, although Peckham said produce — particularly fruit — will be included and she hopes to partner with local farms or businesses to increase the amount of fresh options provided.

While processed foods aren't ideal given the debate surrounding obesity and preservatives, Peckham said second graders would have a hard time preparing most vegetables and raw ingredients.

She also said having cereal, granola bars and microwaveable items in the backpacks could also give needy families the ability to spend more money on produce at the store, since some of their weekly food needs will be met by the items in the backpacks.

"It does make me sad, but I'd rather them have some food than no food," said Peckham. "Maybe if this program is successful, the next year we can think about better ways to get better fruit and vegetables in the hands of our kids. That’s definitely something I'd like to do in the future."

It's possible the program could be brought to , although Peckham said school staff told her there isn't a need currently for a service like "End 68 Hours of Hunger."

Peckham said she hopes the program can aid students year-round, delivering food to students even during summer months. She said the Dover program is doing that on a "case-by-case basis."

The food items and backpacks for the Hampton program will be stored in a room at , said Peckham.

More information about "End 68 Hours of Hunger" is attached to this article as a PDF. Information about the program and how to donate is also available by contacting Peckham at 964-6422 or Schoenberger at 964-9733.