There are a number of children in our area that don’t get enough to eat over the weekend. Staff Council is asking faculty, staff and students to help with the Friday Backpack Program, facilitated by the Hope Alliance of Missouri. This program helps fill the nutritional gap over the weekend for young students who exhibit signs of needing extra food and nutrition.

Each child receives a backpack filled with nutritious pre-assembled food to take home on Fridays. Although many kids look forward to weekends, for others, weekends are a time when they go hungry. The backpacks help fill this void for more than 205 students from Rolla and Newburg elementary schools.

There are several ways you can help:

— Volunteer to fill backpacks. Backpacks are assembled at 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the Wyman Elementary cafeteria and 6:30 p.m. Thursdays at 1014 Pine Street.

— Donate food. Foods should be kid-friendly and nutritious. To get an approved list of suggested food donations, contact Debbie Middendorf at debbiem@mst.edu or 341-4287, or Jennifer Thorpe at thorpej@mst.edu or 341-4224.

— Give cash or checks. It takes $8 to fill one backpack per week. Make checks payable to Hope Alliance. Checks may be mailed to Hope Alliance, Attention: Faith Barnes, P.O. Box 122, Rolla, Mo. 65402. HOPE Alliance of Missouri is a non-profit organization.

Donations and contributions can be dropped off at any of the grade schools or the Rolla Police Department. Be sure to mention it is for the Friday Backpack Program. If you need someone to pick up your donations, contact Middendorf, Thorpe or Faith Barnes, executive director of HOPE Alliance. For additional information, contact Barnes at 368-0930 or by email at faithstanis@yahoo.com.