Write a commentOn Saturday, November 22, your holiday shopping can help stop child hunger in its tracks.
The Hannibal Community Church is hosting a holiday sale from 10am to 3pm as part of the Hannibal Country Christmas festivities, with all proceeds benefiting the backpack program. The church is located at 326 Church Street, on the corner of Church Street and Fulton Street (State Route 3).
For 11 years, Donna Blake and Cathy Mills have been feeding Hannibal’s children with their weekend backpack program. The program first began when both women independently reached out to the Hannibal Central School District—Blake on behalf of the Hannibal Community Church, and Mills on behalf of the Journey of Faith United Methodist Church in Southwest Oswego.
Blake told the iHeart Oswego team, “We’ve been working together ever since.” Their goal the first year was to provide weekend meals for the approximately 50 students who participated in the free lunch program.
Journey of Faith holds the 501(c)3 and manages the finances of the all-volunteer team, while Hannibal Community Church houses the pantry and packs bags every week. “Because we’re so close to the school, they are able to drop by and pick up the bags once they’re packed,” Blake continued.
Today, the program supports 145 children in Fairley Elementary with weekend meals—over 12% of the district’s students and fully 1 out of 3 students in the elementary school. “We also provide snacks for the middle and high school students,” Blake asserted. The program is small but highly responsive; over the summer, a decline in free summer meal venues from three locations to one led to a summer lunch program that fed more than 40 children on its very first day. This summer, they also offered emergency food boxes to several struggling families whose children are part of the weekend program during the school year.
Community members can support the program by shopping the sale during Hannibal Country Christmas or by donating to Journey of Faith UMC with “Backpacks” noted in the memo line of your check. The church’s mailing address is 7721 State Route 104, Oswego NY, 13126. Donors can also provide individually packaged, easy-to-open foods like apple sauce cups, granola bars, and instant oatmeal to Hannibal Community Church.
The pantry has some empty shelves they are looking to fill with proceeds from the sale.
After shopping Saturday’s sale, be sure to check out the many other fun events happening for the Hannibal Country Christmas celebrations, from the Festival of Trees at the Hannibal Free Library to a special appearance of Mac the Wallaby at Beckwith Christmas Tree Farm. Plus, Santa will be there to mark the tree lighting ceremony in the village square at 4pm.
