BATH

When a child says, “I’m hungry and it hurts … my stomach, my head and how I feel,” it’s time for those of us who can, to say, “Enough.”

Many families at the Dike- Newell School in Bath are single parent families. In these economic times, it’s difficult for even two-parent families with both parents working to make enough money to provide for the needs of a family. Add the cost of fuel, electricity and all the other expenses that come with winter, and there’s little left for nutritious food for the family.

In the past, some community members have done their best to help families with money for electricity, finding rentals, providing reading glasses, buying Christmas trees, and even going out to buy groceries and delivering them to a home. Teachers keep snacks on hand for those students they know are not able to bring them. The school received a grant to buy fruit and vegetable snacks four days a week.

Hunger manifests itself in many ways, including absences from school, tardiness, stealing food from peers, hoarding food and acting out behaviorally. Our students are young enough to be completely honest about their circumstances, and we learn from them when their families are struggling. We strive to convey to parents and children that there is no shame in asking for help.

A community supported effort like the Bath BackPack Program, which is completely confidential and can alleviate some of the burden on families by providing snacks and a meal for the weekend, can be huge when helping with the struggles.

The Bath community has always been supportive of its youngest citizens but it is only now that we are feeling the magnitude of growing hunger and its effects on families and teaching and learning. The recent outpouring of support for the Bath Back- Pack Program, in partnership with the Bath United Methodist Church and the Good Shepherd Food Bank, is really heart warming.

Based on the overwhelming need, the Bath United Methodist Church, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, entered into partnership with the Good Shepherd Food Bank to establish a BackPack Program starting with the Dike-Newell School.

The BUMC Mission Team working with Principal Sally Brown has set a goal of serving 50 of the 196 free and reduced lunch students at the school, from December 2014 through December 2015.

The Bath UMC’s BackPack Program Mission Team, relying on the generosity of Bath area businesses, organizations and individuals, has secured more than $10,000 of the $11,500 needed to serve the 50 children. With each $225 raised, a qualifying child at the Dike-Newell School will begin to receive nutritious snacks and one family meal for the weekend for an entire school year. With increased community partnerships and individual contributions, the BackPack Program will be expanded over time to include hungry children in the other Bath schools.

The Good Shepherd Food Bank will deliver the Back- Pack Program meals once-amonth to the Bath UMC at 340 Oak Grove Ave., where community volunteers will pack recyclable bags to be delivered to the school for discreet distribution on Fridays.

The program aims to provide nutritious, kid-friendly menu items planned by Good Shepherd nutritionists to the most vulnerable children during their most critical period of mental and physical development.

Church members discovered that school staff are finding that too many children are not coming to school on Monday morning or, if they do, are more often than not competing against their hunger to pay attention to teachers and learn.

Here in Bath at least two in four children is experiencing food insecurity, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or if it will even be enough. In the Bath elementary schools that translates to at least 300 children.

Of the nearly 550 elementary age children at the Dike- Newell and Fisher-Mitchell schools, approximately 350 qualify for free or reduced lunch. Maine students are eligible for free and reduced breakfast or lunch if the child’s household income is 130 percent (free) or 180 percent (reduced) of the federal poverty guidelines, according to the Maine Department of Education and USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

These meals are the fuel that the children need to get them through the week. We know that many of these “atrisk” children do not have access to enough nutritious food when they are at home on the weekend.

Members of the Bath United Methodist Church along with several community members were astounded about conditions and circumstances surrounding these daunting figures, which are among the highest in the Midcoast region.

This program is not unique to this area. Similar programs are run in Wiscasset and in 11 Brunswick area schools.

Mid-Coast Hunger Prevention Program in Brunswick has been participating in GSFB’s BackPack Program since 2012, starting with 40 children who were suffering the effects of chronic hunger.

Karen Parker, executive director of MCHPP stated, “Early on we thought we would have to sell the (program) to the schools but that quickly changed.”

MCHPP has been participating for two years and now provides more than 260 students in 11 schools with nutritious weekend and vacation meals. Funding for the Brunswick program comes primarily from individual donors, Brunswick civic organizations and grants.

In a recent BackPack families survey conducted by Good Shepherd, Parker said, “The majority of parents stated that the weekend BackPack food has improved their child’s school performance … helped stretch very limited food budgets … and they appreciate the information the BPP provides about preparing nutritious meals on very limited budgets.”

The student survey revealed that the children liked having the weekend meals, which they share with other family members. Parker said, “Fruit snacks and oatmeal were the favorite Back- Pack items.”

If you or your organization would like to be part of the solution, contact Irving Ouellette at 802-673-2759 or 207-729- 3089 or irvbren@gmail.com; Sally Brown at sbrown2@rsu1.org; or Laura Higgins, GSFB, at 207-782-3554 or lhiggins@gsfb.org.

Donations can be mailed to the Good Shepherd Food Bank, P.O. Box 1807, Auburn, ME 04211-1807; or to Bath Savings Institution, 105 Front St., Bath, ME 04530. Make checks payable to “Bath BackPack Program.”

SALLY BROWN is principal of Dike- Newell School in Bath, and Irving Ouellette is a retired educator and served as assistant superintendent in Bath/Union 47 from 1977-85. He is also a member of Bath UMC.