On a recent Tuesday evening, packaged food zoomed down an assembly line at Kirby Foods in Effingham, as the Effingham High School Lady Hearts Track and Field team packed plastic bags with mac and cheese, pudding, ramen noodles, mandarin oranges, oatmeal packets, granola bars and canned spaghetti.
In all, they filled 756 bags with each of the seven food items in 40 minutes. The bags were flung into totes, each one labeled with an Effingham Unit 40 school.
It was Keagyn Koenig’s first time packing with the EHS track team. She was amazed as she looked at the wall of finished totes.
“I didn’t know there were that many students who need food,” she said.
Blessings in a Backpack is a national nonprofit organization that supplies easy-to-prepare, kid-friendly food to students in the free and reduced meal program, helping ensure they have enough food over the weekend. The local chapter began in Effingham in 2013, serving 130 students across three schools.
Today, about 430 students at all Unit 40 schools receive the bags discreetly.
The food is purchased with money raised locally and assembled into bags by volunteers every two weeks. It’s then delivered to schools and distributed to students every Friday.
Casey Burgholzer, a member of the Blessings in a Backpack Board, led the recent packing session. It was her fifth one this year.
Burgholzer joined the nonprofit nine years ago when she was looking for something to get involved in.
“I just felt like I was at that point in my life where I could donate time. And this was an opportunity to do it,” she said.
Her sister was on the Blessings in a Backpack Board, so she also joined. While her sister is no longer on the board, Burgholzer said it would be hard to walk away now.
“I like to see the impact it makes on the community, and that’s nice,” she said.
Impact is also why Blessings in a Backpack Board member Ryan Fearday has stayed with the organization for nine years. Although he and other volunteers can’t see the program’s direct impact on students and families since distribution is discreet, he notes helping at packing sessions, like the recent one, shows the program’s value.
“Whenever you line up someone’s food on a table like this, that’s all going out to the kids,” he said.
The organization buys food with funds raised through donations and fundraisers. But as inflation has risen, so has the price of food, making it more challenging to buy enough to feed that many students. Blessings receives help from Kirby Foods in navigating that.
“They help us with cost and figuring out what is cost-effective,” said Fearday, noting that, in addition to using their facility, Kirby also has someone from their staff help during packing sessions.
“They had all the food set up for us when we got here,” said Fearday. “Kirby does a fantastic job.”
Burgholzer points out that a lot of work goes into the program, not just from Blessings in a Backpack but also from the schools.
“I know it’s kind of an undertaking for them to coordinate with us. We appreciate them, too, of course, working together because it’s a huge system that has to work together,” she said.
School Counselor Kristin Koerner helps coordinate the distribution of the bags at South Side School, where about 100 first- and second-graders currently receive food from the program. That number fluctuates throughout the year.
Although the school decides who qualifies for Blessings in a Backpack based on income guidelines, Koerner noted anyone seeking help will not be turned away.
“If there’s a family that has the need or a situation arises where they could use extra support and resources, we do provide it,” she said.
According to Koerner, the weekend food is vital for many families in the area.
“I’ve had several family members reach out asking for the bags and to make sure that they’re going to get them,” she said.
“I think that for several of them, this is reassuring and can reduce some of that stress that they may be feeling that comes from other financial concerns that they’re running into.”
The plastic white bags are placed in the classrooms every Friday and hung on hooks. Students can then put the bags in their backpacks when they arrive.
At Effingham Junior High School, staff have changed how they hand out bags, so students feel more at ease taking them without being noticed. Last year, the school set up a pantry in the basement, where students can not only get the food but also other items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and clothing. Wendling said students can go into the pantry and take what they need when they need it without permission. Bags are available to slide the items in.
“We were just trying to figure out what’s the best way to get it to the kids that really need it in the most discreet way we can,” said Student Services Counselor Britt Wendling.
Since word about the pantry has spread, Wendling said the school has received donations from churches and individuals. Catholic Charities’ Second Hand Rose in Teutopolis has supplied clothing for the pantry, whether it’s for school changes, replacements for outgrown items or warm clothes.
“We’ve had kids that have had house fires, and they’ve (Second Hand Rose) provided us with a good amount of things for them to take home and rebuild their wardrobe,” said Wendling.
The pantry also includes school supplies like binders, which Wendling said often run low because students can’t bring their backpacks to class.
The pantry comes as the district has ended its free and reduced meal program for all students this school year. The program is still in place for those who qualify.
“I think for families that were just kind of on the edge, it’s made it more difficult. It’s an expense that they weren’t dealing with before that they’re having to,” said Wendling. “I’ve talked to some families where that does make a difference.”
Wendling pointed out that as prices go up and things get harder to afford, Blessings in a Backpack has become a valuable safety net for kids and families.
“The value of being able to provide a meal, which students are able to prepare for themselves, can’t be overstated,” she said.
Blessings in a Backpack is always in need of volunteers. To volunteer, email effinghambackpack@gmail.com
Editor’s Note: This story appeared in the Spring 2026 edition of Effingham Magazine, published by the Effingham Daily News on March 31.