On the Friday before a recent long weekend, Great Falls teachers and administrators were thinking about what local students needed so they could return to school Tuesday ready to learn. For many, the answer was extra food. That’s why Shannon Guilfoyle, Principal of Longfellow Elementary, was pleased to receive an unexpected two barrels of croissants from the Great Falls Community Food Bank – in addition to a usual Friday allocation of food. 

“The need is huge,” Guilfoyle said, “and the food bank guys know that. They make sure our kids get enough.” 

In addition to the croissants, children in need that weekend also received a 2.5-pound pack of kid friendly food to get them through the weekend. This popular program, known as “Backpacks4Kids has been keeping underprivileged Great Falls schoolchildren fed on weekends and holidays since 2010 . The current need is not only huge, but it’s growing. By early 2023, the Food Bank was providing more than 900 “backpacks” -- packages containing several food items – to local schools every week. That's up from an average of 750 in 2022. The backpacks are discretely placed in the children’s backpacks each Friday to help feed students over the weekend. Each school decides who gets the additional food, with an emphasis on ensuring that students have enough to eat, not simply to provide snacks. 

Thought the Food Bank accepts donations for this vital program year-round, from January to early March, the food bank focuses on securing sponsorships for the program with its annual Backpacks4Kids drive. And that’s where you can help. For only $150, you can sponsor one backpack, roughly covering the cost for one child to receive that extra Friday/weekend nutrition for one school year. 

The backpack contents vary, with the Food Bank working to ensure that each one includes protein and various nutrients. Each pack generally includes a can of soup and a single-serving macaroni and cheese packet, along with varying items such as cereal, graham crackers, a granola bar and juice. Although it’s not designed to fill all nutritional needs, each backpack can mean the difference between a child feeling uncomfortable with hunger at school or arriving ready to learn. 

In addition, Guilfoyle and the district’s other administrators and teachers often hand out the packets to students who may have younger siblings at home. It’s a way to ensure children who haven’t yet reached school age also have enough to eat.   

When Guilfoyle was a teacher, she was among those who purchased extra food to send home with students – before the Food Bank’s backpack program existed. She said she knows from personal experience and from Longfellow’s educators that there is no question that hunger can lead to stress, difficulty concentrating and behavioral problems for students. In 2022, when families stopped receiving additional Covid funding, “behavioral problems skyrocketed,” she said. 

Interested in helping a student receive enough nutrition for the weekend? Your sponsorship of a backpack can make a meaningful difference – helping one student for a year, you can make an online donation on this website’s donate page (be sure to leave a note that your donation be earmarked for the Backpacks4Kids program.) or send a check to GFCFB Backpacks4Kids, 1620 12^th Ave. N., Great Falls, MT 59401.

Together we can give students a fighting change to break out of the cycle of poverty. Thank you!