MOULTRIE — According to the University of Georgia’s Initiative on Poverty and the Economy website, 26.15 percent of the population in Colquitt County are children who are living in poverty which means there are children out there who aren’t getting the nutrition that they need. In an effort to help these children, some local churches have taken up an initiative using something as simple and iconic as ... a backpack.

“It’s really been birthed our of our hearts to embrace the children who need this mission effort. We feel like we’re able to do that at a local level,” said the Rev. Corey Shiver, pastor of Christian Life Center, in talking about his church’s program.

Local churches have partnered with elementary schools in the city and county to provide children with a backpack of food to eat over the weekend. The students are identified by the school’s social worker and the backpacks are sent home with the children on Friday and then returned on Monday. The backpacks contain breakfast, snacks and lunch or dinner to get them through Saturday and Sunday.

Alice Griner, who is heading up a backpack mission at First Presbyterian Church, said that this was a national project and she had found several stories on the Internet about its impact. She said she believed the idea initially started with a church in Arkansas.

“It’s nationwide,” she added.

Currently First Presbyterian is helping 21 students at Cox Elementary School, said Griner, and has been doing it since January of 2011.

“We’ve had lots of donations through the church and people giving food. The folks here at the church have been extremely, extremely generous,” she said.

Griner said that she has tried the food items that they send home with the children to see if they taste good because she wouldn’t send anything home with them that she wouldn’t eat herself.

“We try to do fresh fruit once or twice a month,” she said.

They will also send a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly at least once a month, she also said.

The backpacks are put together during the weekly Wednesday night activities at the church. Talley Powell, 8, and Martha Bryan Carr, 7, help pack the food.

“Lots of kids, when they don’t go to school, don’t get a lot of food and they get really hungry. Now, they can have food,” said Carr.

“We try to help them when we can,” Griner said and the girls agreed.

Griner said that the idea came to the First Presbyterian Church through Carl Tolbert, youth minister, who was spearheading a backpack program at Trinity Baptist Church.

“It’s been so awesome to hear where it’s gone. It’s so incredible,” Tolbert said.

The youth minister said he had first seen and heard about the program when he was in seminary school. He said he told the school system about it and asked permission to implement it in Colquitt County.

He said he started the Right Now Mission Group at Trinity, a group of youths who manage the program. To raise money for the program before they started it in January of last year, they sold fair trade coffee and continue to sell it now to support the program. On Wednesday evenings they fill five backpacks which go to students at C.A. Gray Junior High.

“When they hold that backpack, they know what it’s going for and it’s special to them,” said Tolbert.

He also added that what he thought made it even more special was that they didn’t know who the backpacks were going to and the idea of using the backpack kept the students from being singled out or embarrassed. He said he would like to increase the number of backpacks they are able to provide and see it grow to 50 students they were assisting.

“We need to do more and it needs to grow as quickly as it can,” he said.

When they implemented the program last year, they were assisting students at Odom Elementary School.

“We had five there, as well,” he said.

He said when he went to make arrangements for this school year, another church had stepped in already. So, he decided to call the junior high. The same day he called them they were in the process of trying to get in touch with him to see if he would implement the backpack program at the school.

“It has been really awesome how it’s grown. ... It’s been really a heartwarming thing. Anybody who’s involved in this is just blessed,” he said.

Shiver said that his church, Christian Life Center, does world missions and felt that they needed to do a local mission too. They serve Okapilco Elementary School by providing ten students with backpacks of food and, he said, the church has also encouraged the school to let them know other ways in which they could provide a service.

“We just felt that we could partner with them,” he said.

Christian Life Center started its backpack program in the middle of September and he said they are really excited about it. The church is providing food for as many children that are living in the household of each student, which amounts to 24 children, he said. He said 48 meals go into the backpacks each week plus 96 healthy snacks.

“These kids get two snacks a day,” he added.

Shiver said their mission was to increase the number of backpacks as they are able to do it.

“We want something that would be sustainable. Something we could do throughout the whole year,” he said.

Shiver said the church’s contacts within the school system are social workers so that the students and their families remain anonymous.

“We don’t know them and they don’t know us but we’re able to share the love of Christ,” he said.

Some of the items they provide for meals include microwavable ravioli, cups of noodles or tuna salad packs with the crackers.

“Definitely no canned goods because of the risk of a child getting cut,” he added.

He said they have also sent home Capri Suns and cereal with non-refrigerated milk, which is something First Presbyterian also packs in its backpacks.

“If anyone wanted to help or make contributions, we would be willing to accept that. We have already had some people outside of our church who have given,” he said.

He said it’s very encouraging as a pastor to see someone who wasn’t part of the congregation to “buy into” their vision.

Shiver said that the way that their program came about was that one of the church leaders was reading a book by Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate; in it he talked about his home church and their partnership with the schools. The church leader believed that Christian Life Center could take this idea and use it in this community, he said.

“We at the church here feel like we’re leaders in the community. We feel like people in the school system are leaders, as well. There is a strong need in the community for this kind of ministry... There’s not one school that couldn’t use this help,” Shiver said.

St. John’s Episcopal Church started its backpack program last year, said Jean Allen, counselor at R.B. Wright Elementary School, and is serving 14 children in her school.

“It has been well supported by our principal, Marc Bell,” she added.

“I just felt strongly this was something we could do in the community,” said Robyn McQueen, coordinator.

She said she was aware of several churches in Thomasville doing this program for a couple of years. So, she spoke with a coordinator at one of those churches about how they were doing it. She modeled St. John’s backpack program after their program. She said the church or its members buy the food, and on Wednesday nights the food is packed into individual plastic bags. She said the backpacks stay at the school and Allen has Wright Elementary’s Beta Club actually fill the backpacks.

“So they also get to do their community service project,” said McQueen.

She also said that the youth at the church help with putting the food together on Wednesday nights.

“We try to put stuff that’s going to be a healthy snack or has protein in it,” she said.

She said the would continue to add more backpacks in the future. St. John started its program in the spring of last year, she said. She said they were proof that a small congregation could take on a mission like the backpack project. She said it really didn’t take much to make a big difference.

“I just felt strongly it’s something we were called to do,” said McQueen.

First Baptist Church of Moultrie has a program called “Backpack Buddies,” which serves Stringfellow Elementary School; they serve 45 students from 24 different families.

“This is the first year of Backpack Buddies,” said Mary Beth Watson, coordinator.

She said working in the school system really brought things into perspective for her as she would see students who were nutritionally at-risk.

“With all the resources in Colquitt County, there’s no need for there to be kids hungry during the weekend and breaks,” she said.

Watson said she heard about the program two years ago from her cousin in Statesboro and then saw that it was being implemented in Bainbridge, as well. She used information from the Bainbridge program to set up First Baptist’s program. She said they haven’t had any trouble providing the meals each week for the backpacks.

She said they are using mesh bags that fit into the child’s own backpack so their anonymity is preserved and they are not singled out by the other students. The mesh bags are packed by Team Kids, the church’s youth groups, on Wednesday nights.

“It’s like our missions program. This is one of their projects. ... I think it’s a great opportunity to realize how blessed they are,” she said of Team Kids.

Watson said that any organization or individual that wanted to set up a Backpack Buddies program could call her and she would get them started.

Any of the above mentioned churches would be grateful for monetary donations or “kid friendly” foods and can be contacted at their respective church offices.

“We’re all taking care of kids in different places. We’re kind of the hands and feet of Christ,” said Watson.