Some school districts in Lake County provide free breakfasts and lunches to students from low-income families, while others in communities with a substantial percentage of below-average earners do the same for every child. Most such programs are federally funded.
When weekends arrive, the Northern Illinois Food Bank, with help from partners like North Chicago-based Abbott, fill the void through the BackPack Program. Jen Lamplough, the food bank’s chief impact officer, said the effort provides enough food for each family for nine to 11 meals.
“The BackPack Program is privately funded,” Lamplough said. “The school programs are (mostly) publicly funded by federal programs. This helps tide families over on the weekends and into the next week.”
Kathryn McKenzie, the vice president of the Abbott Fund, the corporation’s philanthropic foundation, said the company provides both financial support and volunteer hours to fill the backpacks which selected children receive every week.
“Good nutrition is essential for good health,” McKenzie said. “We want to help people live healthy lives. They told us about the great need and we decided to help. We have a longstanding relationship with the Northern Illinois Food Bank.”
McKenzie was one of 20 Abbott employees who spent two hours assembling bags of food and inserting them in boxes to go into the backpacks on Oct. 9 at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Lake Forest, as well as announcing a $250,000 donation to help fund the BackPack Program.
Once the bags of food are placed in boxes, Lamplough said they go to 190 schools in nine northern Illinois counties, including Lake County. School districts include those in Waukegan, Gurnee, Zion, North Chicago, Antioch and Fox Lake. Families of nearly 300 children benefit.
Once at their destination, Jessica Willis, the child nutrition program manager for the food bank, said the school removes bags from the boxes, places them in a backpack with wheels, the child takes it home on Friday and returns it on Monday. School officials decide who gets the backpacks.
“We leave it to the social workers at the schools and school staff to decide which people are in need,” Willis said. “They’re the ones who handle that.”
With a donation of $250,000 from Abbott, McKenzie said approximately 225,000 meals will be created over more than a three-month period. It covers the cost of the food and the other expenses of getting to the families, like transportation and food bank operations.
“We’ve been making contributions to the food bank for more than two decades and volunteering to help,” McKenzie said. “They told us childhood hunger has never been greater in the Chicago area.”
Since 2019, Lamplough said food insecurity has increased 32% in the region served by the Northern Illinois Food Bank. The need became more acute during the COVID pandemic, but then the federal government was providing relief. When the assistance stopped, things got worse.
“An additional 100,000 people were impacted,” Lamplough said. “There was inflation, and the price of food went up. It hasn’t come down.”
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Volunteering at the food bank for Abbott employees is robust, beyond the 40 hours provided on Oct. 9. McKenzie said approximately 375 volunteer hours are logged annually. It is paid time off for them.
Willis said the food supplied is geared toward meal-making for a family. It can include pasta, sauce, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, canned protein like tuna, chicken or beans, as well as some snacks.
“It’s shelf-stable food,” Willis said. “We seek meal companionship. If there’s beans, we add rice. If there’s noodles, we make sure there’s sauce. There should be nine to 11 meals per backpack. We’re trying to bridge the gap of the weekend.”
One of the participating school districts is Woodland Community School District 50 in Gurnee. Brooke Hagstrom, the district’s communications manager, said in an email approximately 42% of the students there are low-income.
“School social workers and Woodland’s family coordinators train staff members on what to look for, and provide guidance on how to connect families to the program if they notice a potential need,” Hagstrom said in the email.
Hagstrom said the program not only ensures students have nutritious food over the weekend, but the impact is noticeable when they are in the classroom. It supports their overall wellbeing.
“The program promotes stronger student attendance, engagement and success in the classroom,” Hagstrom said. “It also strengthens our partnership with families and demonstrates our shared commitment to caring for the child academically, socially and emotionally.”