FORT LUPTON, Colo.—For most, it’s the little things in life that matter.
But for many children from Twombly and Butler elementary schools in this southern Weld County town, it’s the things many take for granted that matter most.
“Can I have some Chees it’s,” a letter from one of those children reads. “Pleas and thank you you’re the Best and you are a Super.”
The note, which hangs on the wall of the Miracle House, serves as a reminder to three women why they do what they do.
Fort Lupton residents Sue Hubert, Jeanette Thiesen and Donna Howard spend every Tuesday morning putting together Blessings in a Bag, a food program for children from poverty.
Hubert started Blessings in a Bag in 2006 to help feed Fort Lupton Re-8 School District children on the weekends who otherwise would come to school on Monday mornings with headaches and empty stomachs.
“They are our future,” Hubert said. “We have to feed their brains. They could be the one who finds the cure for cancer.”
Hubert first learned of the program when she was visiting her daughter in Virginia and decided Fort Lupton needed something similar. And during the past five years, the women have spent thousands of hours shopping and bagging up grocery bags for children to take home on Friday. The bags are filled with enough food to get them through the weekend.
The program has become so successful that what started with 30 children has grown to 110. It is funded through grants, donations and a partnership with the Weld Food Bank.
The bags include everything from tuna packs, peanut butter and milk to pudding, cereal and crackers. In the winter, they include scarves, mittens and hats. Around each holiday, they toss in something special, such as Friday when students will get stuffed plastic Easter eggs and egg coloring kits. And the first sack of the school year generally includes school supplies.
“I don’t know that anybody could shop any better than we do,” Thiesen said. “Our money goes a long way.”
The women are careful to make sure food is high in protein and nonperishable. Letters go out to all of the families at the beginning of the school year to apply. In homes with multiple students, all of the children get their own bag. And teachers distribute the bags anonymously to the students on Fridays before they leave for the weekend.
The trio has also helped the district with its summer nutrition program, cooking and serving meals at the church for all of the students in the district.
Volunteering in the district is something none of them would trade.
“I don’t foresee us being able to ever quit,” Thiesen said. “We are so blessed. Even in tough times people are so generous. I’ve been at Target buying things and people in line ask what I’m buying so much of one thing for, and twice those people have given me $20 to help pay for it.”
The students, for sure, will never forget.
“p.s. I hope you have a grate time I love you,” the letter from the student finishes.
The one student likely speaks for 109 others.
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Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune,
