DOWAGIAC — On Thursday, staff of Dowagiac Family Dentistry huddled into LuAnn Scott’s car to deliver more than 40 plastic bags filled with two meals of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to counselors and staff at Dowagiac Middle School.   

This school year, Dowagiac Middle School was added as a location for Saint Francis Outreach’s backpack program, which supplies students in need with weekend meals.

Scott, who is co-chair of the backpack program with her twin sister, Sue Ann Stewart, said the program, in its fourth year, has seen consistent growth and support from many areas of the community.

“Saint Francis Outreach was founded in 2015 by the local priest because we were closing St. Vincent here in town,” Scott said. “We wanted to do something for the community to help people with food, clothing and those things that so many people in our community need. We really have a lot of poverty in our area.”

Saint Francis Outreach decided during the 2016-2017 school year to help provide weekend meals to elementary students. At the same time, Pokagon Methodist Church had already had a program in place to help Patrick Hamilton Elementary students. Saint Francis Outreach joined forces with Pokagon Methodist Church and started donating 25 bags a weekend to Justus Gage.

“Presently, we have 180 backpacks,” Scott said. “Forty at each of the four elementary schools and 40 at the middle school.”

Scott said the middle school program began because elementary students who moved up to sixth grade expressed concern for not getting weekend food anymore.

“We found that there is a little bit of a need for that,” Scott said. “We followed up with it, and that’s where the Dowagiac Elks came in to help us. Dr. Jonathan Gillesby helps pay for some of the bags for the middle school program, too.”

For the past three years, the program has also received a $10,000 grant from the Pokagon Fund. The Pokagon Fund is funded by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.

Scott said the program also receives assistance from Sister Lakes Community Church and other businesses in the area, including Family Fare and Harding’s, which donate plastic bags to hold the food. New this year, the program also received a donation from Feeding America.

“We truly can’t do this without our community support, business support and other churches, charities and individuals,” Scott said.

Volunteers also play a vital role in the program. Shopping crews take care of purchasing the food for each month. Scott said she tries to keep the shopping local, and most food is purchased at Save-A-Lot in town, where the program receives a discount.

About 50 children in the church’s religious education program pack 80 of the bags on Sundays.

“It’s really good for them because they feel like they are doing something to help other kids that are in need,” Scott said.

The backpack program does not extend into the summer months because the program does not have contact with students. Over the summer, Dowagiac’s Meet Up and Eat Up summer food service program begins to help fill the need.

During the school year, the backpack program handles the weekend meals by developing a strong working relationship with the schools. Confidentially is also key.

“We never know who those kids are, and we want to keep it confidential,” Scott said. “What [counselors] are trying to do now is put the bags in students’ lockers. There were a few issues with kids being embarrassed.”

Lisa Armijo, the office guidance counselor at Dowagiac Middle School, said the process of deciding which children are in need comes from word of mouth, their elementary school history and from teachers.

“It’s different here because the kids are most likely to make food for themselves or fend for themselves,” Armijo said. “It definitely helps them to be able to have this food.”

Scott said the estimated cost of each backpack for one weekend is $4.50 to $4.70.

“This makes such a big difference in the lives of all 180 children each week throughout the school year,” Scott said. “We couldn’t do it without this community.”