Not only is Saturday’s 130th Annual Turkey Bowl between Monmouth and Knox colleges a big deal for the players on the field, but it’s also a big deal for hundreds of Galesburg school children.
Students who are part of Knox’s Blessings in a Backpack program will be collecting cans of soup at the gates of Knosher Field. Cans that will help feed needy elementary school children in District 205 during the school year.
Joel Estes, Chair for Educational Studies with Knox College, tells WGIL that the program helps feed 430 elementary school children that just don’t get enough food during the school year. “The whole program is based on the idea that a lot of kids in our community don’t have food on the weekend,” Estes said. “They go to school and there’s breakfast there for them and there’s lunch. Then they get home on the weekend, and for a number of different reasons, there’s not enough food – and in some cases no food.”
Estes referenced his time working in District 205 where he could tell which children weren’t getting enough food. “When I was an elementary school principal I knew which kids were hungry because there was no wasting of food for them, their trays were always clean, and they were actually begging food from other kids.”
Blessings in a Backpack was started at Knox College in 2010 and, through a partnership with District 205 and First Presbyterian Church, was able to start feeding kids in the 2011-12 school year. Annually the community raises $32,000 to support their mission.
The organization’s goal this year is to collect 10,000 cans of soup and Estes says that so far they’ve already collected 4,000.
Cash and check donations are also welcome as every dollar given to the program equals two cans of soup for a hungry child. Checks can be mailed to the organization at:
Knox College Blessings in a Backpack
Campus Box K25
2 E. South Street
Galesburg, IL 61401
You can find out more about Blessings in a Backpack by clicking here.
