History of the Weekend Survival Kit
In the summer of 2011, Christian and Pamela Wilson joined the “Peace through Justice” Committee of St. John's of Baltimore City United Methodist Church and suggested a new project to address the needs of the poor children in Baltimore City.
Meeting with the principal of a nearby public school they heard that homeless students at the school had access to free breakfasts and lunches when school was in session but sources of food were scarce or even non-existent on the weekends. The principal described how the homeless students arrived on Mondays hungry, listless, and unsettled – only wanting their breakfasts, not ready to sit down and learn. She stated, as many principals since have said, that as an Educator her primary job was to educate her students, something she could not do if they were so preoccupied with hunger and so tired that they could not learn.
Acknowledging the specific situations homeless families would likely face, the group designed a menu of food that would require no heating and no refrigeration but which would include nutritious food that would appeal a child’s tastes. Also acknowledging that many school children have a sibling at home as well as their parent or other caregiver they decided to expand the amount of food provided each weekend to cover three people. Even hungry children often have such generous spirits that they would share their own food with other family members. Feeding three people would keep the family unit intact, cut down on family stresses and make sure the student was not foregoing his/her own needs.
So they started that fall of 2011 providing 5 of the backpacks under their “Homeless Students Weekend Backpacks” program and by the end of that school year had added an additional 2 backpacks. The following year after Heart's Place Services, Inc., a 501©3 and formerly Heart’s Place Shelter (see “Donate”) joined the partnership and further expanded the number of backpacks to a total of 14, serving two schools.
Anxious to spread what was a very successful program to as many schools as possible, the Wilsons met several times with the Baltimore City School System in the Spring of 2013 and were introduced to the Maryland Food Bank. Because of the partnership of the Baltimore City School System and the Maryland Food Bank’s school pantries it was a perfect way to physically serve the City’s homeless school population. So in late 2013, the Maryland Food Bank aptly renamed the program “The Weekend Survival Kit” and became another partner by delivering food to 4 schools through its School Food Pantry Program. This partnership worked so well that the Maryland Food Bank, in obtaining grant funding, was able to expand the program to a total of 10 schools with a combined homeless population of 100 students. This meant that 300 individuals were receiving food on days that formerly they had been hungry.
The goal of this greatly successful but thus far limited program is to eventually serve all homeless students in the Baltimore City Public School System.