DONATIONS RECEIVED: Darien Village Administrator Rebecca LeMire and Darien Elementary Principal Kelly Pickel accept a $2,500 donation from Monroe Funeral Home Directors Pat Tauscher and Mark Monroe for the school’s Food in a Backpack program. Monroe Funeral home promised the funds as a matching grant if the school was able to raise that amount or above from community resources.
Delavan-Darien now offers a weekend meal program for students in need at all three of its elementary schools.
In January, Darien Elementary School started its own community-supported “Food in a Backpack” program with weekend meals for 20 students.
That program has already grown to three times that size following the generous support of area donors.
Monore Funeral Home Directors Pat Tauscher and Mark Monroe provided $2,500 in matching funds after the school raised $3,900 from area businesses, including:
- $1,000 from Darien CIFA, Inc (Fire Association);
- $1,000 from First National Bank and Trust;
- $500 from Waddell-Wojcik, Darien;
- $500 from the Darien Women’s Club;
- $500 from Royal Baskets, Darien;
- $400 from Jane Miller Diggins, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.
The backpack program provides pre-packaged weekend meals for students, which are delivered on Friday afternoon before the students leave for home.
Students can qualify for the program if they are on the federal free and reduced lunch program.
The first weekend meal program in Delavan-Darien started in 2012 at Wileman Elementary. The school received a $50,000 grant from Live Nation after a Pearl Jam concert at Alpine Valley.
Today, the Wileman Blessings program serves about 55 students in preschool and kindergarten.
In 2015, a group of local churches, spearheaded by Sugar Creek Lutheran Church, replicated the weekend meal program at Turtle Creek and called it “Food in a Backpack.”
There are about 120 first, second and third grade students benefitting from the program at Turtle Creek.
Combined, the generosity of the Delavan-Darien community ensures that more about 235 elementary students have full bellies over the weekend.
The program is also supported by Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly in Delavan. Officials at the store help order and sort the “grocery list” and prepare it for pickup by school staff.
Volunteers help out at each school to package the grocery bags for the students, which are delivered discretely by staff members to ensure confidentiality.
To learn more contact the school offices at: 262-233-6800.