Weekend Snack Sacks now available to 300 children in Lenawee County

Helping children one snack at a time with Weekend Snack Sacks

“If you can’t feed a hundred people then just feed one.”  ~Mother Theresa

The Lenawee Community Foundation works to improve the quality of lives of the citizens of Lenawee County — one person at a time. We partner with the Baucher family of Adrian, Adrian Morning Rotary, Adrian and Madison School Districts and the South Central Michigan Food Bank to help feed hungry children in our area through a program called Weekend Snack Sacks.

Matthew Baucher started the Weekend Snack Sack program serving one elementary school when he was in fifth grade. Matt and his mom tackled one of the major issues facing children from low income families: hunger. If you who aren’t familiar with our project, we pack brown lunch sacks with 5=6 healthy and filling snacks to give to children each week. These students are selected by the teachers and principal; they have been identified simply as kids who could use a little extra food for the weekends. We never know their names.

In order to expand the program the Baucher family partnered with the Lenawee Community Foundation, Lenawee YOUTH Council, Adrian Morning Rotary and Adrian and Madison Schools. Much of the food is purchased from the South Central Michigan Food Bank at about 20 cents a pound. Other donors include the Adrian Morning Rotary, Lenawee YOUTH Council, Meijer, Pistons Foundation, and ProMedica Advocacy Fund at the Lenawee Community Foundation, and several individuals. We are currently providing 300 kids with snacks over the weekends each week.

Matt recently shared this story at the Annual Meeting of the South Central Michigan Food Bank. “We were delivering the weekend snack sacks to our middle school. As we walked in carrying a box filled with our sacks to distribute a little girl said ‘Yay, snack sacks!’ My mom asked if she got them and the girl replied by asking if they had cereal again this week. She went on to tell us how she split her bowl of cereal with her little sister. We were unknowingly feeding two kids. What a difference you are making in the lives of kids in Adrian, Michigan.”

To donate to Weekend Snack Sacks or for more information contact Paula Trentman at the Lenawee Community Foundation.