Food program needs help
Published 9:58 pm Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Niles Salvation Army’s “Feed My Sheep” backpack food program, which is expanding this school year, is in need of building space. (Daily Star photo/File)
There is good news and bad news for the Niles Salvation Army’s “Feed His Sheep” backpack food program.
The good news is the program in its first year was able to serve 170 children in need in the Niles, Brandywine and Buchanan school districts six meals every weekend. That’s 3,216 backpacks of food and 19,296 meals for the year.
The bad news is this year the program is in jeopardy due to lack of space at its current location — the Niles Salvation Army office.
Jan Nowak, director of caring ministries and social services, expects the number of children the program will serve to double, creating a space issue.
“The space we have needs to be used doubly for multiple programs. Any space we have has two or three purposes,” Nowak said.
Capt. Tracey Walters told the Star Tuesday that the space issue has caused the Salvation Army to look into other properties around Niles for a new home.
In the mean time, Nowak is reaching out to the community for help. She is hoping to partner with a local business or organization to obtain a room for the program.
“I need about 1,000 square feet of space, heated, locked and secured,” she said. “And I need it to be free.”
Nowak said not only would the donator get to be a part of a positive program but would also get a tax write-off.
The need is real in the area for programs like Feed His Sheep, Nowak said.
“I wonder what I am going to eat tonight but there are people in the community that ask is there anything to eat tonight?” Nowak said. “That is the painful difference between families in our community. And there are far more in this area than anyone would want to acknowledge.”
The program has more benefits to students than just six meals to take home each weekend, though.
“The fruit of all this is parents and teachers reporting children with greatly improved grades, attendance, better attitudes, more energy,” Nowak said.
To inquire about donating space to the program, make a monetary donation or to volunteer for the program, contact Nowak at (269) 684-2660 or jan_nowak@usc.salvationarmy.org/niles.
