Christiansburg Club Backpack Program - A program to Enhance the Nutrition of Young Children
Jim Vanhoozier

We in the Christiansburg Kiwanis Club's see as part of our mission, to serve young children in the areas of health, safety, and education. Recently, a need in the areas of health and education came to our attention. Studies have shown that many children are at risk with diets that are irregular, unsupervised, or generally lacking in good nutritional content. This, in turn, can increase their risk of developing health related problems such as obesity and diabetes, lead to behavioral problems such as attention deficit disorder, and adversely affect their learning ability. Studies have also shown that dietary nutrients are not only important for health, but can significantly influence the way children think and feel. Children who consume nutritious foods are better students, concentrate better, retain more information, and perform better on tests.

The educational system in Montgomery County does a very good job of providing balanced, nutritional meals to children during the school day. However, many children do not get that same balanced diet on the weekends. The Christiansburg Kiwanis Club has initiated a program called the Backpack Program that would provide nutritional supplements to children's diets (snacks) on weekends. The goals of this program would be to enhance the child's learning ability, reduce behavioral problems, help improve the child's health, and educate the family to the benefits and importance of good nutrition.

We have initiated this program in cooperation with Head Start. They presently have 40 preschool children (ages 3, 4, and 5) in their program. A letter was sent to each family briefly explaining the program. Those wishing to participate were required to attend a meeting where the goals, benefits, and importance of good nutrition were reviewed and details of the program developed. Each child was assigned a numbered backpack that he/she would pick up after school on Fridays containing the nutritious snacks and then return it, empty, on Monday morning to the school. The program is continuously monitored as to its effectiveness in reaching its goals.

The Christiansburg Kiwanis Club is financing this program with various club fund raisers, solicitations for donations of dollars, and solicitations for donations of healthy snack foods (which are described on the attached list of "Approved Foods"). Wal-Mart and Kroger have jumped at the opportunity to help with this program and we hope to get more companies involved as well.

Anyone interested in donating to this program should contact the Backpack Prog. Committee Chair, Jerry Higgins at (W) 5406392575, (cell) 5402301538, or email jhiggins@h2o4u.org or write directly to Kiwanis at the address on the letterhead.