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Throughout the school year, 31 backpack loads-up vehicles delivering bags of meals to schools in the Copper Country. Those meals help students stay healthy with a meal to eat over the weekend while away from school. During larger school year breaks though 31 Backpacks has a lot more food to pack up, and load onto school buses. This year the non-profit filled 906 bags for students and their families.
“We guesstimate that there will be over 1,800 meals that are going out the door today. So these kids are coming up on their 14-day winter break. And they’ll be away from their reliable food source at school. So this is filling that gap. And takes away a little bit of the stress that the holiday season presents to families.” – Melissa Maki, President, 31 Backpacks
The big back means that 31 Backpacks need a lot of help over the three days. The first day consists of setting up the tables and room so that a system can quickly developed the next day. On day two a team of volunteers will take a bag and begin to fill it with different food items before sorting each child’s meals with each local school. Then on day three, today, 31 backpacks will call all of their volunteers back early in the morning to help load the buses.
“We have a normal core of volunteers that show up for all of our packs. But over the past three days, we have had help from Pettibone, Somero, and Koppers. A lot of organizations donated their time to our organization and that is just a fantastic way to give back this time of year.” – Melissa Maki, President, 31
Backpacks 31 Backpacks delivers meals to students all over the Keweenaw peninsula operating in Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw counties. The non-profit relies on the dedication and passion of fantastic volunteers and local partner businesses to pack meals and find items to create healthy food options. Those interested ted to learning more about 31 backpacks can find more information here.
