Nearly 50 percent of elementary students and 46 percent of all students in Renton School District qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. That means those students are eligible for an inexpensive daily lunch — and breakfast. But do those children have enough to eat at home on the weekends?

At least 18 of them should, thanks to a program started this fall by Renton Salvation Army and Communities in Schools of Renton.

The students in this program take home a backpack of food every Friday. Enough for breakfast and lunch Saturday and Sunday. Easy-to-make food like Easy Mac, Cup Noodles, cheese and crackers, cereal and fruits and vegetables. The students return the empty backpacks to their school office Monday and Salvation Army volunteers pick up the backpacks Tuesday.

“The idea is that other kids will not know what’s in the backpacks; they’ll just think it’s school books,” says Terry Masango, captain of Renton Salvation Army.

Masango was inspired to send home food backpacks after hearing about a Des Moines-area food bank that runs a similar program.

He shared the idea with Renton School District, and Communities in Schools of Renton donated 100 backpacks.

The backpacks were first distributed at Lakeridge Elementary, a school where nearly 79 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. That’s the district’s highest percentage. The backpacks then went out at Campbell Hill and Bryn Mawr. More than 72 percent of Campbell Hill’s students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and nearly 59 percent at Bryn Mawr.

Six students at each of these schools receive a weekly backpack of food. Extra meals are tucked in for siblings.

The receiving families love the backpacks, says Nancy Piombo, who helps coordinate the program. Piombo is a family liaison at Lakeridge and Sierra Heights elementaries for Communities in Schools of Renton.

“It provides a very much needed service for kids on free and reduced lunch,” she says. “They know they’re going to get breakfast and lunch. It’s definitely meeting a need.”

Masango plans to distribute the backpacks through the school year’s end. He wants to grow the program and fill all of those 100 donated backpacks.

“The hope is if we can touch the lives of at least 100 kids we’ve done well,” he says.

He wants to give food backpacks to students at all of Renton’s 13 elementary schools. But the Salvation Army needs more money. It costs about $12 a week to put food in each backpack.

Wizards of the Coast pledged $5,000 to support the program, and Masango is hoping other companies, families and individuals will follow suit. Sponsoring even one child, for $12 a week, would help.

Drop off food

Drop off food for the backpacks at Salvation Army Renton Rotary Food Bank and Service Center, at 206 S. Tobin. For more information, call the food bank and service center at 425-255-5969.

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