Independent: Backpack Crew packs food to help families

There's a good article in this week's Independent about some great people trying to make a difference by feeding hungry kids in Monmouth County. The Backpack Crew 

From the Independent:

By KAYLA J. MARSHStaff Writer

RED BANK — For many families in Monmouth County, the free/subsidized lunch children receive during school is sometimes their main and only meal of the day, according to local officials.

What happens though when they are not in school or are just feeling hungry because they do not have full meals at home?

One local nonprofit is working to answer these questions.

“It is hard to believe that lunch is the best meal of the day for these kids,” said Suzanne Dice, founder of The Backpack Crew. “You never think that it is your own community, that it could be your neighbors.”

The idea for The Backpack Crew came a year after superstorm Sandy when Dice was listening to a local teacher talk about her school and how there were families still struggling to get by.

“My husband and I always wanted to start a program and we talked about it, but it was always just something [to do] down the road,” Dice said.

“This woman was basically asking for prayers for her school and the families who were still trying to get back on their feet from Sandy, and when I heard this story, I was so moved and just felt like we needed to do something.”

Cindy Squassoni, a member of The Backpack Crew team, said she feels after the storm all that was discussed were problems residents were having with insurance companies or other issues.

“I don’t think anyone really heard about the long-term impact that [the storm] had on these families, these people who lost their jobs because of it, who were never homeless before that suddenly were and who could provide for their family beforehand but couldn’t anymore,” said Squassoni. “It was new for them and I think this teacher brought all of that to the conversation.”

Based out of The United Methodist Church of Red Bank at 247 Broad St., The Backpack Crew was founded in October 2013 and is dedicated to delivering weekend groceries to families in need and raising awareness about childhood hunger.

Here is how it works. Families are assigned their own backpack, which is delivered to the school each Friday filled with groceries such as macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, oatmeal packets, granola bars, peanut butter and fruit cups. In the backpack is two days’ worth of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. The backpack is then returned to the school on Monday to be refilled.

“We have limited space in those backpacks but we make the most out of it and jam as much as we can into those bags,” Dice said.

After starting out with one school, The Backpack Crew has expanded to feed families in five different schools throughout Red Bank, Middletown and Highlands.

“When we were designing this program with the first school nurse, our main number one goal was to keep it private for the families,” Dice said. “We wanted families to feel comfortable in accepting the help. I don’t know any of the families or their names. We know how many adults and children are assigned to each bag since every bag has a number, so we know how many to pack for, but we drop off the bags to the nurse and that is where it ends for us.”...

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Enjoy a Short Stack and Support The Backpack Crew

The Backpack Crew will be holding a fundraiser at the Middletown Applebee's on March 21, 2015.

You can purchase tickets by contacting our friends at Nephews Skate Shop  or by emailing the Backpack Crew directly at backpackcrewnj@gmail.com

All proceeds raised support The Back Pack Crew's mission of providing local children with food on the weekends, when they do not have their school lunch to rely on.

Donations of non-perishable food to the BackPack Crew can also be dropped off at Nephews Skate Shop at any time.

The Backpack Crew: Small Steps To Eliminate Hunger In Our Schools

I first posted about The Backpack Crew last March, since that time its founders, Keith and Suzanne Dice, have been making a big difference in the lives of local Middletown school children and their families that find themselves with not enough to eat by providing the kids with backpacks filled with non-perishable, nutritious foodstuffs that help them get through the weekends, when school lunches programs are not available.

The work that the Dice's have been doing hasn't gone unnoticed, recently the John Burton of the Two River Times wrote a nice article about their endeavor:

MIDDLETOWN – For the community at large, hunger can be silent, unseen, but still very much a part of the community. But it is very much something that affects lives and has to be addressed. 

So found out Keith and Suzanne Dice, a young Middletown couple who have been taking steps to deal with hunger and food insecurity establishing a program they call the Backpack Crew. 

The couple has been working as a ministry of the United Methodist Church, 247 Broad St., Red Bank, with the church’s support and assistance. 

The Backpack Crew currently fills 25 packs with mostly non-perishable, nutritious foodstuffs (plus some durable fruits and vegetables), delivering them to an unidentified township primary school. The idea, they explained, is to make available the food for the weekend for students enrolled in the free and reduced cost lunch program and their families, to ensure they have enough to carry them through when the kids are not in school. 

The couple declined to identify the school to preserve the families’ confidentiality.
The idea arose when the Dices were talking to a family friend, who teaches at the school, who told them about families still struggling a year after Sandy. Starting the program in Oct. 2013 they were quickly struck by how prevalent the problem is in their suburban area. They modeled their program on one established in North Carolina. 

“The face of a hungry person is not what most people would picture,” Suzanne said.
“First of all we couldn’t believe it was here in our area,” Keith acknowledged. “It surprised me and once we found out about it we knew something had to be done.
“Originally we said if no one was willing to do this we’ll do it ourselves,” Keith continued. 

Suzanne and Keith each week bring the backpacks, which are numbered, to the school, with the school nurse distributing them to the children on a Friday, with the kids returning the packs on a Monday, the Dices explained. 

Keith and Suzanne approached their church leaders about coordinating their efforts, getting assistance in collecting food. “We couldn’t do it without the church’s help and support,” Suzanne said. 

Church representatives have recently dedicated a room at the church to store the collected food centralize the program. 

Suzanne and Keith have also set up some food collection boxes in Middletown and Atlantic Highlands to add to what is available for distribution. 

Hunger in the abstract is an insurmountable problem, of course. But the Dices believe that with many making small steps it can be solved...

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If you would like to help out by donating gift cards, supplies or food stuffs, here is an updated list of drop off locations where you can leave your items:

1. United Methodist Church of Red Bank at 247 Broad Street. (parking lot in back and a grocery cart is by the office for donations)

2. ZPT Zino Personal Training at 4-10 West Garfield Ave Atlantic Highlands (you may as well stay and try a class. People there are awesome!)

3. Dance with Melody in Middletown- Shop Rite Plaza

4. Nephews Skateboard Shop and Gallery Main Street Port Monmouth

If you can't make it out to one of the drop off locations you can contact the Keith or Suzanne to arrange a local pick up or to  find out how you can get involved and help The Backpack Crew program continue- check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/thebackpackcrew or contact by email at backpackcrewnj@gmail.com

The Backpack Crew: Helping Local Displaced Middletown Families Fight Hunger

It would take 218,000 school buses to hold all of America’s hungry children. Some of those children are right here in our area.

 The Backpack Crew was started this past October to help one of our local Middletown elementary schools who still have families displaced from Superstorm Sandy. We provide healthy food for kids who need a little extra to get through the weekend by providing backpacks full of groceries to struggling families every weekend - when there is no school lunch to rely on.

As a ministry of The United Methodist Church of Red Bank, there are currently 19 families utilizing the program for a total of 48 children being fed. Plans are in the works to continue the program throughout the summer for hopefully even more families.

To find out how you can get involved and help The Backpack Crew program continue- check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/thebackpackcrew or by email at backpackcrewnj@gmail.com