News

Mary Berle, principal of Muddy Brook Elementary School (MBE) in Great Barrington brought some of her concerns about feeding the children more than one meal a day to our church member Anne Hutchinson over a month ago. The statistics were eye opening: 48% of Muddy Brook students are on free and reduced lunch (up from about 10% ten years ago). Every Thursday Anne led a core team of volunteers from our church to fill 20 backpacks and an additional shopping bag with fresh food for each child to take home and help feed their family.
A typical backpack and grocery bag contained: a box of Cheerios, corn tortillas, yogurt, cheddar cheese, crackers, fresh garden peas, 5 oranges, bread, pasta, 5 potatoes, 5 apples, a bag of carrots, celery, peanut butter, tuna, raisins, and seasonings.
The Backpack Project was a huge success. Thanks to Anne, her volunteers, and the church members who donated food to bolster the contents of the backpacks and grocery bags for each child and their families. They were hungry and we gave them food; they were thirsty and we gave them drink.