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2:30 PM Friday, November 13, 2009

The current economic recession has affected everyone in our country, and Butler County is no exception. Contributions to local charitable organizations are seeing the same financial crunch as are many of our families.

These are the same charitable organizations that assist our families during adverse times and at this time, more people need and are using the services supported by your donation to United Way.

2009 is the third year that the Butler County United Way Women’s Initiative helped to support the “Backpack Program,” a collaborative effort between Shared Harvest Foodbank and the Butler County Success Program.

One of the goals of the Women’s Initiative is to focus collective resources to increase awareness and impact on the community’s unmet needs.

This year our fund-raising challenges are real. Putting food into the stomachs of our local school-aged children remains our priority.

All 10 school districts are participating, including Middletown, Monroe, Fairfield, New Miami, Hamilton, Lakota, Talawanda, Edgewood, Ross and Madison.

The children on the Backpack Program face multiple barriers to success at school. Lack of food is just one of those barriers, but it is the most obvious to a hungry child.

Many of our kids are active in Children’s Services cases and one story comes from one of these little boys.

Last summer, the boy told his caseworker he couldn’t wait to return to school. She asked why he wanted to go back when it was only the middle of summer. He explained that he wanted to get back to school so he could get his backpack of food again. He said that the backpack was his food to eat whenever he wanted.

This may sound a little selfish, but the caseworker explained that, of all the things out of control in this little boy’s life, the backpack not only gave him food but control over something like what he eats and when he eats.

It is something that belongs just to him. To him, it is a symbol of independence, an escape from feeling powerless. All that from a few meals and snacks.

In the 2008-09 school year, there were on average 1,700 bags of food distributed to elementary children in 71 Butler County schools a week.

This year it is projected that the number will increase to more than 2,500 bags of food a week. To bring this home to one school district – within one month, 72 additional children were added to the program, a 23 percent increase. ...

If you would like to help feed the children of our community, please visit www.bc-unitedway.org or drop off or mail a donation to Butler County United Way, 323 N. Third St., Hamilton OH 45011.

There are only a few more weeks left in this year’s fund-raising campaign. The cliché of “no gift is too small” is certainly a truism. Please give what you can to the Butler County United Way.

Michele Wood

Women’s Initiative executive committee member

Butler County United Way

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Mrs. Wood, Thank you for shining a light on this critical problem of nutrition for our less fortunate children during these troubled times.
Please everybody, contribute to the "backpack"
program. Few are aware that it isn't just family's as a whole who need donated food. Children often go without food when there's not enough in the house to feed everyone. Often adults assume their children will be fed at school but many times it simply isn't enough for those who need it the most. Please help.

Marian Mahue
10:14 AM, 11/16/2009

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