Skip To Main Content

Backpack Program

Navigation

Children Food insecure

  In Douglas County,  21% of children live below the poverty level and 16.3% of children are considered food uncertain.  Students eligible and participating in the national free and reduced lunch progam is 77%.
-2023Missouri Hunger Atlas

Mission

      The mission of the BEAR Necessities: BackPack Program is to alleviate the hunger of our students on weekends by supplementing their food sources at home with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food.

Goals

  1. Alleviate the hunger of our students on weekends by supplementing their food sources at home with easy to prepare nutritional meals.  
  2. Students working in the program and those receiving the benefits will develop positive attitudes and relationships with others and and increase their school performance.  
  3. ​We hope all will become happy, healthy, productive members of society who care about others in our community and beyond.  

    What is a the Backpack Program?

      Generally, backpack food programs provide a bag of nonperishable food to children in need that they can take home and eat when school meal programs are unavailable. These bags are distributed at school to participating children in plastic  bags by their teacher as they leave Friday.  The contents of the bag can vary depending on the food and donations available.  Our goal is to provide enough food to replace the meals that children would receive at school (e.g. two breakfast options, two lunch options, two snack options, one can fruit or vegetable option).

ENrollment Form

Bear Necessitites Backpack Program History

     Our program, initiated by Liz Kyger in the fall of 2008, aims to provide weekend snacks for Pre-K to second-grade students qualifying for the free lunch program. Through grant writing, community donations, business contributions, Ava R-I Schools monies, and fundraising efforts, we were able to expand our program in 2017 to include students on the reduced lunch program. With the generous support of donations and the recycling program of the Ava Masonic Lodge, we have now grown to include Pre-K to fourth-grade students on the free and reduced lunch program.

      We currently provide weekend meals for 140 elementary students. Our BEAR Necessities program operates through the High School Leadership class, where students assist the advisor in organizing and planning meals. They handle order pick-ups, store the food in our closet, and bag the meals for delivery to the elementary school. We operate without administrative costs, ensuring that all funds directly meet the students' needs.

   If you would like to donate, contact Julie Taylor at jtaylor@avabears.net.

     The AHS Leadership class offers the BEAR Necessities: Backpack Program to students in PreK thru fourth grade who qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program. This is NOT a government program; all food and supplies are paid for by donations.
      If you believe your child could benefit from this program, we encourage you to sign them up by filling out the form and returning it to the front office. Only one form is needed for all the children in your family, but include information for each child in the form below. This information is kept confidential between BEAR Necessities: Backpack Program and Ava R-I Schools.
     This program is available free to students in Pre-K through Fourth grade who qualify for free and reduced lunches.  We encourage you to take advantage of this program for your family and your children.

Why do we ask for registration?  To avoid waste, we do require registration.  In the past, parents who did not want the food disposed of it in the trash. No records are put in student files or reported to any agency.