Well, we packed our last backpacks for the year yesterday and they will go home with children today. All tolled, that’s 285 backpacks and 45 Market Basket Gift cards distributed to PHA Early Childhood families between February and the end of the school year. Seems like a lot, but I know it’s barely making a dent.

As I prepared for the last packing, I first unpacked food items from their their bulk cartons and laid them out for easy access.  Looking at the food before it gets repackaged, it too looks like a lot, but I know that in each individual backpack, there’s not that much – just enough for two breakfasts and two lunches for one child. The experience reminded me of my typical Saturday afternoon which involves unpacking the weekly family grocery shopping bags onto my kitchen counter. The amount of food looks like a lot. Yet usually by Thursday, we’ve drunk more milk than anticipated, or run out of bread or eggs or some other “essential” item. For me, it’s an easy problem to solve, yet I forget regularly how fortunate I am to have the means as well as the easy access to a food market.

As we reach the end of another school year, let’s celebrate the tremendous progress we’ve made in addressing the hunger issue at PHA.  I, for one, commit to make an even bigger dent in the hunger issue next year.

Happy Summer, Everyone!