No child should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. That’s why the Backpack Program provides essential weekend meals to elementary students who face chronic hunger. Supporting food-insecure children identified by school personnel, the program serves more than 100 students every year across Bailey, Oak, Momot, CVES, and Chazy Elementary Schools. The Backpack Program has a meaningful impact, supporting improved physical, cognitive, and social growth in the children it serves.

Running for 30 weeks during the school year, from October through June, each backpack is filled with nutritious, kid-friendly items to sustain children over the weekend. Bags include:

Three entrees

Two breakfast items

One fruit or vegetable

A grain

Snacks

The Backpack Program is made possible through the fundraising efforts of the Community Action Angels. Two major annual events — the Golf Tournament and the Card & Collectible Shows — cover nearly half of the program's cost. Additional funding comes from corporate sponsorships and generous donations from people like you.

We have collaborated with other groups on this project, including the SUNY Plattsburgh Men’s Hockey Team and the staff at Old Navy. A group of volunteers from Behavioral Health Services North help pack the bags every week, and Coryer Staffing and UFirst Federal Credit Union deliver bags to the schools.

In 2023, the cost to sponsor a child for the school year increased from $183 to over $300, reflecting rising food costs.

The Fostering Komfort program was created in response to the surge of children entering foster care in our region. The program is designed to support children during an incredibly difficult transition – entering foster care or moving between foster homes.

Often, children are placed into foster care with little more than the clothes they are wearing, leaving them without the basic necessities or items that can provide comfort in an unfamiliar environment. Our program seeks to address this need by providing suitcases, duffle bags, and backpacks filled with carefully selected items that are tailored to each child’s age and gender. Each bag contains:

Age and hair-type appropriate hygiene items, such as tooth brushes, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, combs, brushes, baby wipes, and/or diapers.

Comfort tools, such as soft blankets, stuffed animals, books, notebooks, coloring books, crayons, pens, and pencils.

The Department of Social Services distributes these bags to children experiencing a transition in foster care, ensuring that each child receives a bag appropriate for their age, gender, and needs. Since the launch of the Fostering Komfort program in July of 2016, we have assembled and distributed more than 400 bags.

We have collaborated with other groups in the area on this project, including the Plattsburgh Kiwanis Breakfast Club (who named the project) and the Beekmantown Varsity Boys Hockey Team.

When Hannah took in two foster children and saw they came with their things stuffed in garbage bags, she wanted to do something to help.