Pulaski Students, Families Receive Food from New BackPack Program

by Submitted article | February 23, 2016 7:25 am

PULASKI – Pulaski Academy & Central School District families will not go hungry during school breaks, thanks to the new BackPack Program.

PACS Executive Director of Academic and Instructional Excellence Kristen Foland loads food-filled backpacks onto a school bus at Sharp Elementary School. The BackPack Program has made it possible for families in need to eat throughout school breaks.
PACS Executive Director of Academic and Instructional Excellence Kristen Foland loads food-filled backpacks onto a school bus at Sharp Elementary School. The BackPack Program has made it possible for families in need to eat throughout school breaks.

During those breaks, about 45 families will receive a nylon backpack stuffed with a supply of staple foods, such as peanut butter, canned tuna fish, noodle packets, boxed raisins, pasta and sauce, a voucher for milk at any Byrne Dairy location and more.

Families received food for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Mid-Winter breaks and the backpacks will again be distributed at the start of spring break in April.

The effort was made possible by a collaboration between PACS and Christ Our Light Catholic Church in Pulaski.

Church members Shannon Eisel and Darcy McCarty, who is a PACS Board of Education member, laid the program’s groundwork and obtained a small portion of church grant funds to use as program seed money.

PACS staff members also provided food and monetary donations.

Staple foods are packed into a backpack, which are discretely sent home to PACS families in need.
Staple foods are packed into a backpack, which are discretely sent home to PACS families in need.

Former Lura M. Sharp Elementary Principal Andrea Lomber said in January that the program is focused on students who receive free or reduced lunch.

“We have so many students that talk about how they don’t have a lot of food at home,” she said.

Backpacks are given to each bus driver before students are loaded on their bus.

This process allows the driver to discretely give a child a backpack before he or she is dropped off home.

Both food and monetary donations are needed.

Donations may be dropped off at the elementary school, 2 Hinman Road, or the church, 23 Niagara St.

Parents may call the school at 298-2412 for more information.

The BackPack Program is a collaborative effort between Christ Our Light Catholic Church and the Pulaski Academy & Central School District which brings food to needy families during school breaks.
The BackPack Program is a collaborative effort between Christ Our Light Catholic Church and the Pulaski Academy & Central School District which brings food to needy families during school breaks.

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