GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — 2024 is the third year Scott County's AMEN House has held its backpack program. Volunteers are packing more than 350 bags for students who need meals over the weekends.
This week, volunteers are working on an order of 85 of these bags. Each bag contains six meals that students can enjoy over the weekend.
AMEN House's executive director, Michele Carlisle, says Feeding America says half of all food-insecure families live above government assistance.
"There's just something different when you know that a child is facing food insecurities. So, to be able to step into that gap on the weekends and make sure that they have the nutrition that they need to get through the weekend is a really big deal,” says Carlisle.
$70,000 raised helps pay for the eight Scott County Schools that AMEN House preps bags for.
Scott County Middle School’s youth service coordinator, Olivia Gillis, says, "I've never seen it like this before, even people that have never heard of or heard from, like it's a struggle this year. Everything is just so expensive."
U.S. Bureau of Labor Stats shows that prices have been on the rise since 2020, but things are back on the downslope as of September 2024. Gillis says sometimes families need a little extra help. She remembers a student who wants a special treat.
She says, "The kid walks up to me and he's like, 'is there spaghetti in those bags?' and I was like, 'it's your lucky day, there is spaghetti in this bag' And he like physically went like this, he's like 'yes! I really wanted spaghetti, and I asked my mom if we could have some and she said we couldn't have any unless I brought it home' and I think I took the cart and I went and hid in a corner and cried because I was like, that's just something that we don't think about, right? We make a grocery list, and we go and get what we need. And for a kid to have something that they want... And like these meals and the support of the amen house provides it."
Gillis has seen the impact these meals have had on students and watched their confidence grow.
She says, "I really get to see these kids thrive and having a small part of that means the world to me."
