Staff and volunteers pray together before getting to work.
HANCEVILLE – The school year has officially come to a close, and the staffers and volunteers with Hanceville’s Knapsacks for Kids program are reflecting back on the year they’ve had.
Each Friday of the school year, HKK distributed to approximately 50 area students backpacks containing a weekend's worth of nutrition. See our overview of the organization at http://qrne.ws/knapsacks.
Program representative Nancy Horton shared the following with The Tribune.
The program served an average of 43 students per week for 32 weeks though the 2016-17 school year, serving the elementary, middle and high schools. That comes out to approximately 1,376 knapsacks packed and delivered. In addition to the regular weekly packages, volunteers sent extra items and treats home with the kids at Christmas and Easter, and at the end of the school year.
Numerous organizations participated in packing activities, so no one would have to shoulder too much of the load alone. Volunteers came from Hopewell Baptist Church, Hanceville First Methodist, Stouts Mountain Baptist, Trinity Lutheran, First Baptist Hanceville, Northside Church of Christ, Center Hill Baptist, Garden City Church of God, Pleasant Grove Methodist, Hanceville Civitan Club, Hanceville Culture Club, Highway 91 Homemakers Club and Perkeys Tax Service. According to Horton, the program also benefited from several individual donors. Drivers Lynn Kelso and Bobby Jackson picked up packages from the packing station at the Hanceville Civic Center and delivered them to the schools.
As for plans for next year, “We hope to serve more students as the need arises,” said Horton. “We held a wrap-up meeting the last of May with representatives from each organization. We discussed any changes that needed to be made, highlights of the year, and thanked all who had participated and donated. We will meet again the first of August and begin serving students the end of August, after the students are identified who qualify for the program.”
Any person or group interested in helping out next year can contact Nancy Horton at 256-309-1936 or Sandy Waters at 256-339-0634.
Horton shared, “It is an honor to work with such a dedicated, caring group of individuals. This effort would not be possible without the volunteers who pack each week as well as the generous donations of the community and churches. Thanks go out to the operational managers- Retha Tinney, Amy Gable, Sabrina Ryan, Lisa Robinson, Lynda Brown, Lynn Kelso and Sandy Waters- for the many hours given to this effort. Also, many thanks to the school counselors for all they do to identify the students with needs and to distribute the food each week.”
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