As a new school year begins, an unlikely partnership is helping improve the lives of underserved, hungry children in Santa Barbara County.
CMC Rescue Equipment is a Santa Barbara-based company that provides rescue professionals with specialized materials and equipment for their often dangerous work. The company is an unlikely candidate to take a lead in helping hungry children, but when CMC employee Nancy Boothby heard about the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County’s BackPack Program, she decided to put her talent and CMC’s resources to use.
Boothby learned that on Fridays, the Foodbank’s BackPack Program gives reusable backpacks full of healthy, wholesome food and fresh, nonrefrigerated produce to Santa Barbara County schoolchildren who otherwise would go hungry on the weekends, as identified by their schools. During their most critical stages of development, hundreds of children depend on school-provided lunches as their main source of food and nutrition, and when school is out over the weekend, they become vulnerable to the effects of food insecurity and hunger.
To help tackle the problem of food-related health problems among children, Boothby helped expand the program by sewing more than 140 colorful backpacks for Santa Barbara children, using CMC’s professional-grade and durable materials.
“I heard about the BackPack Program and felt compelled to help,” Boothby said. “CMC Rescue has such great materials to work with — safe, sturdy and also bright and colorful for the kids — it just all made sense, and I have been sewing ever since.”
CMC Rescue marketing manager Megan Cullen said the entire CMC team is happy to be part of the project.
Foodbank executive director Erik Talkin is encouraged by the support and expansion of the program.
“We are very pleased with the community and business support for our BackPack Program, from the volunteers who assemble and deliver the backpacks to schools, to businesses like CMC who help us by supporting and expanding the program,” he said. “It is important that we have continued community support to tackle problems of childhood hunger and malnutrition in our county. This project is integral in improving children’s growth, health and ability to learn.”
After this month’s expansion of the BackPack Program, the Foodbank will serve nearly 1,000 children in need of a weekend supply of food over the course of the school year, which is a 50 percent increase from last year.
For more information about the program or to get involved, contact Erin Muma at 805.967.5741 x106 or emuma@foodbanksbc.org.
— Gina Fischer is a development associate for Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.