BackPack for Needy Kids

BackPack - Rotary Club, Community FoodBank and Needy Students Perfect Together!

Roselle - Roselle Park Rotarian Denise Emrich Garry announced the Robert Gordon Elementary School BackPack Project.  The project is sponsored by Community FoodBank of New Jersey, in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Roselle - Roselle Park for the benefit of needy students at Roselle Park’s Robert Gordon Elementary School.  According to Garry, “This project is part of the commitment of the Rotary Club of Roselle - Roselle Park to Community Service providing nutritious food to children in Robert Gordon Elementary School as identified and known only to the Principal Frances Kenny.  We are starting with 10 students and hope the community will help sustain the program at Robert Gordon and expand it to the other schools in town.”

The Rotary Club of Roselle - Roselle Park gave the seed money for the program providing enough food for weekends in May and June 2015, then applied for grants to sustain the program.  But we need your help!  The cub’s goal is to have community organizations and individuals sustain the program through tax-deductible donations to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey with the notation - Roselle Park BackPack.

Don’t forget the notation!

Mail checks to Community FoodBank of New Jersey, 31 Evans Terminal, Hillside NJ 07205 - Attention Rebecca Flores, Child Nutrition Programs Coordinator.  

Ms. Garry stated, “We are thankful for any donation amount.  You can sponsor a child for an entire school year for $200.  This will help the neediest children identified by the school principal to get the nutritious food they need to get through the weekends during the school year.”

Each BackPack includes two days worth of nutritious food including juices and cereal.  The food is non-perishable and ready to eat.  

Robert Gordon Elementary School, located on Grant Avenue in Roselle Park, has an enrollment of 280 students in grades pre-k through 5th grade.  Robert Gordon School Principal Frances Kenny and Superintendent of Schools Pedro Garrido welcomed the program to the Roselle Park Schools.  

To create awareness of the program, the Rotary Club of Roselle Park wishes to place colorful birdhouses with the Rotary Wheel Logo and brochures about the program in strategic locations such as local businesses and other gathering places.  Individuals or organizations sponsoring a child for one year by donating $200 will receive birdhouse to keep.  

Our motto is “Helping to bring food to the nest.”

If you would like to place a birdhouse in your business, gathering place, or home contact Denise Emrich Garry at denise.garry@gmail.com.  Or if you know how to contact other Rotarians from Roselle Park including Kevin Murphy, Jim Vigliotti, Scott Wands, Milt Woodruff, Bob Zeglarski, or any other Rotarian, please do so.  

Please join our cause!

From the Community FoodBank of NJ web site:

BackPack Program

Our BackPack Program provides backpacks full of supplemental, nutritious food to children who are food insecure over the weekend. When a child is food insecure, he or she is at great risk of going hungry. To combat this problem, food packages are picked up weekly by participating schools where staff members distribute them in backpacks, which are also donated by our program. The children may keep these backpacks for personal use.

We are currently serving 1,800 children participating from 30 schools located in 11 cities: Elizabeth, Newark, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Irvington, East Orange,  Orange, Jersey City, Harrison, Roselle and Paterson.