Some children wish for dolls and wagons, some children wish for games and gadgets. The children we see at Second Harvest wish for food.

Having food to eat shouldn’t be anyone’s wish, but it is. These children go to bed night after night with their stomachs aching from hunger. They come home to a literally bare cupboard. They hope their hardest that Friday isn’t a snow day, because that means no backpack full of food to take home for the weekend.

That’s why in addition to assisting their families with food, we’ve developed two programs specifically for children. We at Second Harvest Community Food Bank believe that children are our future, and we are determined to give all the best foundation for success possible.

Backpack Buddies, launched in 2003, provides a backpack filled with nutritious, child-friendly food for schoolchildren and their siblings to take home over the weekend. When that program is not available over the weekend, many children simply go without food. The program initially served children in the St. Joseph School District, but has expanded to Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Livingston, Nodaway and Worth counties in Missouri and Atchison, Brown, Doniphan and Leavenworth Counties in Kansas. Nearly 2,100 children in 14 counties in over 50 schools, Head Start or after-school programs are signed up for the program for the 2011-2012 school year.

The Kids Cafe® program started in 2005 and provides a nutritious, hot meal each weekday for children after school and during the summer months.

Kids Café is located at the Bartlett Center in St. Joseph and serves up to 25 children. These children have been identified as not receiving an evening meal at home.