Rochester, Rochester Hills

School welcomes Hilary Duff for Blessing in a Backpack

By Jennifer McDonald
C & G Staff Writer

Photo by Deb Jacques Blessings in a Backpack national spokesperson and pop sensation Hilary Duff spoke at Auburn Elementary March 5. The Avondale School District is the first district in Michigan to implement the program.

ROCHESTER HILLS — Students in the Avondale School District have much more to take home than homework on Friday afternoons, thanks to a new program, Blessings in a Backpack.

The national program, which launched last fall in Avondale and is sponsored by the North Woodward Community Foundation, brought its national spokesperson, 21-year-old pop sensation Hilary Duff, to Auburn Elementary School March 5.

Though she’s been involved in numerous community service projects, Duff said this was one that really proved itself.

She couldn’t believe that 61 percent of children attending public school were involved with the government’s free or reduced-fee hot lunch program. That’s a number that simply can’t be ignored, she said.

“There really is no downfall in this, no trick to it. One hundred percent of the money we get goes to the kids,” Duff said. “It was just so easy to get involved and help.”

Troy parent Anju Brodbine happened upon an article featuring Duff and her involvement with Blessings in a Backpack. When she brought the idea to the North Woodward Community Foundation, Brodbine found officials eager to develop the initiative in the Avondale School District.

“I couldn’t let go of the fact that kids in my neighborhood applied — why my kids had what they needed and others didn’t,” Brodbine said. “Since then, the program has bloomed, and those of us who have been involved with the program have been changed. But this is just the beginning.”

Avondale became the first school district in Michigan to feature the program and is the very first in America to execute it districtwide. Eight hundred Avondale students qualify and 250 are currently enrolled. Those that qualify include students who are receiving free or reduced-fee school lunches.

Each week, volunteers — including students from the Avondale High School Honor Society and Avondale Academy — distribute backpacks filled with six meals, such as tuna, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, fruit juice, crackers and oatmeal.

“We’re just thankful to be involved with the program,” Avondale Superintendent George Heitsch said. “It fits with our desire to educate students to the best of our ability. We know students who are hungry don’t learn as well as those that are full. We also saw this as an opportunity to reach out to a community who has been very kind and gracious to us and to help give a little bit back.”

Program officials say nutrition and learning go hand-in-hand. That’s why the goal of Blessings in a Backpack is to keep students from going hungry each week, removing at least one barrier to academic success.

“All of our studies and statistics show that when kids eat better, they do better in school,” Avondale Board of Education President Cynthia Tischer said. “In the past, we resigned ourselves to the fact that there wasn’t anything we could do for children on the weekends. Well, now we can.”

Throughout the participating schools there is no embarrassment: Each backpack looks ordinary. But what’s inside is what matters most, Duff said.

“Everyone says thank you to us, but I want to say thank you to you,” Duff told students during an assembly. “You guys are the ones coming to school each day and learning and growing. We’re so happy this school district is the first one in Michigan, and hopefully it will grow and help even more families.”

For more information, to make a donation or to volunteer to help the project,

contact the North Woodward Community Foundation at (248) 740-7600 or nwcf@um.att.com.

For more information about Blessings in a Backpack, visit www.blessingsinabackpackmi.org.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jennifer McDonald at jmcdonald@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1112.