Every Friday after school is like Christmas for two Buchanan Community Schools students.

Six-year-old Tara McNeil and her eight-year-old sister, Nova, get off the bus and hurry inside to the kitchen where they eagerly open their big red backpacks with their mother, Sarah.

“I can’t believe just how excited they get to see what is inside,” Sarah said. “They used to try to open them up before they got in because they were so excited. It is like they are opening up a present.”

Each backpack is filled with enough food to make breakfast, lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday for each girl. The backpacks and food are provided through a program called Feeding His Sheep, which is offered through the Niles Salvation Army. The purpose of the program is to provide balanced, nutritional meals to elementary students in the area.

“Children get meals at school during the week, but what happens on the weekend if families struggle to provide food?” asked Jan Nowak-Lumm, Niles Salvation Army social services director. “Our goal is to stabilize the caloric intake for these kids on the weekends and help improve their attendance and academics during the week.”

It took nine volunteers about three hours to fill up 215 backpacks Wednesday morning in the basement of the Niles District Library. The backpacks are then dropped off at Niles, Buchanan and Brandywine schools. On Friday, the students take the backpacks home and return them Monday to begin the cycle anew.

The program depends on volunteer manpower and donations. More than 200 children are enrolled and more than 1,200 backpacks have been filled. Numerous families are on waiting lists for the program.

“Right now because of cost we can’t afford to add more people,” Nowak-Lumm said.

For those lucky enough to be in the program, watching a red backpack come home Friday is a welcome sight.

“Two days of food is such a blessing because I don’t have to worry about the girls being hungry,” Sarah McNeil said. “I can’t imagine not being part of this is program right now because I know my kids are going to have something to eat. If I could, I would hug everybody who helps with this.”

For more information, or to donate, contact the Niles Salvation Army at 684-2660.