Thirteen years ago 31 Backpacks started its mission to ensure Copper Country kids have full stomachs when they come to school. Now the non-profit organization works with each school district within the Copper Country ISD.
I don’t know of any other backpack programs that cover the long breaks like winter break and spring break, not in the state of Michigan, I’m aware. We are the largest backpack program in the state of Michigan. And it’s a huge, huge, huge thing that we’re doing. And to tell you the truth, if we thought it would be this big, it probably never would have happened. We just took it as incrementally as we could. –Melissa Maki, Vice President, 31 Backpacks
Given the region’s recent weather forecast and an earlier start to break 31 Backpacks vice president and co-founder Melissa Maki says that the organization had to rely heavily on volunteers this time of the year.
So every week, what we do are individual meals. We packed today because of the snow, so those kids are away from their food source today. It’s pretty sad, and I’m expecting that to happen again tomorrow, and it breaks our heart to think about that. For the winter break, we do send home more family-oriented meals for them so that they can all share. And it’s an incredible amount of groceries. But it will be things like pasta and the pasta sauce to go with it, and some beef skillet, lasagna type meals so that they can all sit down because everybody’s going to be home for a little bit for the holidays and share that meal.–Melissa Maki, Vice President, 31 Backpacks.
Starting on Sunday 31 backpacks will begin preparation for the 2024 winter big pack. 31 Backpacks Vice President and Co-Founder Melissa Maki says that for packing meals and the busses the group will have volunteers from local companies and groups; Including Somero sending 40 volunteers as a part of the company’s community service program.
Monday is the big pack when we put these in kitchen-size garbage bags and get that ready to go out and then Tuesday morning is bus pickups. For the first time, we have enough people for the big pack and we have enough people for the bus pickups and that never happens. –Melissa Maki, Vice President, 31 Backpacks
We’ll start with the public at 6 p.m. We’ll be here at 5 getting things ready. At 6 o’clock, usually two hours. What we’re doing is staging everything so everything comes out of the boxes, everything comes out of the wraps, and it’s ready for the actual packing on Monday night. So it’s very streamlined like we do our weekly pack. We make sure it’s super easy for people to do. Just take one of everything down the line. And they don’t have to count and everything’s pre-counted and we know when we’re done. –Melissa Maki, Vice President, 31 Backpacks
School administrators help 31 backpacks identify kids in need each school year. Schools have expressed to the non-profit how impactful the program is for students, as they come into school ready to learn.
We don’t have a lot of interaction with the actual families themselves. We try to keep it anonymous for the kid’s sake. But what I have heard has been expressed to us, and some people contact us on Facebook, how much they appreciate this. And this can make a difference between the kids getting gifts under the tree or not. And it’s much easier to deal with a child who is not hungry at home. The energy level is completely different when that situation is going on. So they appreciate what we do. We do send home some personal hygiene products as well as some cleaning products. You can’t buy those things with a bridge card. – Melissa Maki, Vice President, 31 Backpacks
31 Backpacks Big Pack supplies meals for students while at home during the 16-day winter break. The organization is the only backpack meal program that offers students meals during winter and spring break periods in the state. Volunteers that want to help 31 Backpacks organize the staging area for the Winter Big Pack will arrive to the Glad Tidings Church in Hancock at 6 pm on Sunday. Find more details about 31 Backpacks here.
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