Our Story
Our story begins in 2015. A group of us realized that many of the families in our Berrien Springs Schools struggle to buy the supplies their children must have for their classes. So that summer, we took action and put out a call to the community. Within days we had more than 200 backpacks and enough school supplies to fill them. You should have seen those children’s beaming smiles when they received their backpacks. It was a heartwarming start to the 2015-2016 school year … and the beginning of Backpacks for Berrien.
But there’s more to the story.
Our little group learned that the families who have trouble purchasing school supplies also struggle to buy enough food to feed their children. This doesn’t impact just a few Berrien Springs students. More than two-thirds of our school district’s children often don’t have enough to eat at home on weekends. So we found another purpose for those backpacks.
Now, every school week, we fill their backpacks with nutritious, easy-to-make food that they can discreetly pick up at school and eat on weekends. Backpack after backpack after backpack, our community is fighting to end local hunger! And with your help, this story will have an even happier ending …
