Filling kids' stomachs to reach their minds

Tony King knows there are students in his second-grade class at Jordan Elementary who often don't get enough to eat at home. Sometimes, they can't focus on the lessons. Some of them drill him about when it will be lunch time.

"You can definitely tell when they're not themselves or not able to concentrate completely," he said.

But he never truly understood the problem of hunger among his low-income students until it wasn't a problem -- at least for a short time.

This fall, the school started "Blessings in a Backpack," which sends some low-income students home on Fridays with a nondescript backpack full of healthy snacks such as peanut butter, crackers and granola bars.

"One of the kids had the biggest smile on her face," King said. "She looked inside [her backpack] and saw the food in there and it was like Christmas to her. ... It was like a big weight had been lifted off, and she didn't have to worry about being hungry over the weekend."

Concerned about higher rates of absences and health problems among growing numbers of low-income students, Principal Stacy DeCorsey started the program. She hopes it will not only fill their stomachs, but improve behavior and academic performance.

"The backpacks came back [on Monday] and they were very thankful," DeCorsey said. "The food was gone. Everything was gone."

Improving achievement

The number of low-income students at the Scott County school has grown in recent years. In 2004, 20 percent of the students were receiving free or reduced-price lunch, a common indicator that a student comes from a low-income family. In 2007, that number had jumped to 24 percent.

That's also true of many other south-metro districts. In the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district, the percentage has gone from 17 in 2004 to 24 in 2007. In Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, it's gone from 9 percent to 12 percent in the same period.

In September, families of these students in Jordan received a letter introducing the "Blessings in a Backpack" program, and it has now run over two weekends. So far, 48 families in the 625-student school are participating.

Tom Pellegrino, president of the Minnesota School Nutrition Association, said he hasn't heard of any similar programs in Minnesota.

"This is focusing on the well-being of those kids and doing something way beyond what most schools are [doing]," said Pellegrino, who is also the food service director in the Osseo School District. "Most schools have their hands full with getting kids ready to learn and helping them achieve."

For DeCorsey, though, those goals are one and the same.

Two years ago, she started a "Healthy Snack" cart that travels the school each morning. The cart, which families pay $40 a year for, dispenses snacks such as pretzels, fruit and string cheese.

King said student behavior improved significantly when students started getting healthy snacks and not things like Ho Hos.

"Blessings in a Backpack" takes that mission a little farther.

"On Mondays," Pellegrino said, "some students can't even get through the lunch line without gobbling down food. It's just common sense that you need to have food to be able to concentrate on higher-level things."

Funded by donations

"Blessing in a Backpack" is funded almost entirely by donations. Two local banks donated $200 each to get the program started.

A food shelf is providing most of the food, which is donated largely by churches such as Bridgewood and Adoration in Savage. A group of Girl Scouts and some teachers have donated backpacks.

Jason Houle, director of the Mobile Food Shelf of Minnesota, latched onto the project because of personal experience.

Houle grew up in a family with little money on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. After not eating much over the weekends, he remembers the scent of food wafting into his classroom on Monday mornings as the cafeteria prepared for lunch.

"It was such an overpowering thing," he said. "When you're hungry, your concentration level is more on the food than it is on the teaching."

And that is what DeCorsey and company want to eliminate.

"When the students walk out our doors, we all tend to think, 'That's the end of our responsibility,'" DeCorsey said. "But I started realizing that kids are home all weekend without ... enough in their cupboards. We want to provide for the whole child. Nutrition has a definite impact on their achievement."

Emily Johns • 612-518-9294

Emily Johns • ejohns@startribune.com