*Youth of the church help pack the bags.*

About three years ago, First Christian Church in Odessa joined several other churches and groups in their community in a BackSnacks program. The program supplies the local Upper Elementary School with bags of food that get distributed to students who might not otherwise get enough to eat at home.

The program coordinator at FCC is Tamra Mefford who shares this of the effort:

My daughter, Angelia Lett, was the person who got our church involved. Our church packs 10 bags a week to be delivered to the Upper Elementary School.overall I believe there are 75-80 bags a week delivered to the Odessa schools. We try to pack something in the bag for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack, that a child might be able to prepare for themself if need be. Our congregation donates food items, and we have raised money to support the program. I shop for items that are not donated. We pack the 10 bags with approximately $10 worth of food. I deliver the bags to the school and the school social worker sees that they get to the students.

There are other churches across Mid-America involved with such food programs in their communities. Let us all continue to provide this kind of immediate assistance as it is needed, and also work to change the systems that make it necessary.