Volunteers sought for SEMO Food Bank’s backpack program

Volunteer Shelby Rhymer with Montgomery Bank fills a bag Friday with weekend food supplies that will be sent home with Sikeston R-6 children as part of the backpack program through SEMO Food Bank. Volunteers — whether individuals, businesses or organizations — to help fill bags on Friday for the backpack program in Sikeston are needed.

Leonna Heuring/Standard Democrat

SIKESTON — If Diane Eberhard had a doughnut for the number of years she’s been making sure schoolchildren in the Sikeston area have food for the weekend, she’d have a baker’s dozen.

“When we first started doing this, we were delivering food out to Morehouse Elementary School,” said Eberhard, who started delivering weekend food for children in 2009. “Making sure a child doesn’t go hungry is something I’m really passionate about, and I want everyone to be just as passionate about it as I am.”

That’s why Eberhard is searching for more individuals, work groups and church groups to help deliver bags of food to Sikeston’s six different schools through the Southeast Missouri Food Bank’s weekend backpack of food program. This year there are 1,178 students in 31 school districts participating in the Food Bank’s entire backpack program.

Eberhard organizes the delivery of weekend food for the Sikeston-area schoolchildren and needs some individuals, church groups or work teams who share her passion for making sure children don’t go to bed hungry over the weekend.

Volunteers are needed to pick up the weekend food bags at the Sikeston School District Central Supply office and take them to a school drop-off location. The process takes about 30 minutes a week and involves minimal person-to-person contact.

Volunteers simply pick up their allotment of bags at the school district’s Central Supply location and drop them at the school.

“This is so super-easy,” Eberhard said. “The Central Supply staff are awesome. They already have the bags counted out and ready to go. The bags aren’t heavy. And you can do it as frequently or infrequently as you want. You can help every week or every other week or just monthly – whatever works for you.”

Eberhard prepares and emails a weekly schedule. Pickups are currently held about 9 a.m. Friday and take about a half hour.

“And if you consider feeding children to be helping do God’s work, the rewards are heavenly,” she said.

Those interested in helping can contact Eberhard at 573-380-9592.