Cheryl Harris is looking for the greatest Christmas gift: someone in the community stepping forward to take the reins for leading the Alliance Bulldog Backpack Program.
The program is in its 14th year, and this year has seen an increase in the number of students receiving crucial food resources. Through the program, volunteers pack bags of food to be distributed among students in need who are nominated by school officials.
“There are a lot of students who don’t have an adequate amount of food,” said Harris. “This year, we’re sending about 150 bags home a week. We pack them on Monday night with volunteers. There are volunteers that take the totes filled with bags to the schools. Counselors see that they get passed out to the students. The money for the groceries, most everything that we buy is bought locally from Grocery Kart, and the money comes from grants and there are people from all over, people who have birthday money, people who just want to donate, people who have funeral memorials. It comes from different places.”
Harris began the program after hearing about similar programs in other Panhandle communities aiming to help feed students in need.
“It’s not a church program, and it’s not a school program, but it’s supported by both of them,” Harris said. “I heard about it and went over to pack with them to see what they did, then we just started. We have from 40 to 60 volunteers that do all kinds of things. We divide it into four teams, so the volunteers only pack once a month, whatever team they are on. A good part of them have done it for 14 years.”
Harris hopes for the program to continue in Alliance with a person, or multiple people stepping into the role of president.
“It needs to be someone with a heart for children and that cares about the fact they are being fed,” said Harris. “I can’t believe there is not someone or two someones—things change when somebody goes out and someone else comes in—but there isn’t any reason there can’t be two people that are president. Right now, it’s kind of divided into three sections. One of the people does the records. One of them does the grocery ordering and the thank yous, the secretarial things like that, and then I do whatever is left over.”
Harris will no longer make any decisions as of January 1, 2025, but will stay to assist the program through the end of the school year.
“The board will be making the decisions, but I will be there to help the transition,” Harris said.
People who are interested in becoming the next president may call Harris at 308-760-7629, or Carol Shimek at 308-763-8600, who will answer any questions.
“I just know that there’s someone here that’s willing to do that,” said Harris. “They just need to know about it. There are lots of people, I can’t believe after 14 years, who still don’t know we have this program, but there are. So, we’re trying to cover all our bases to make sure that people know about it.”
Reflecting on her time in the program, Harris believes the biggest impact that she has made is helping to feed hungry students, who otherwise would not have had the food resources available.
“I worked for the school for 30 some years, and I saw kids come to school on Monday morning with headaches or stomach aches that hadn’t had anything to eat on Sunday, or not very much. Kids have always been important to me. We don’t always hear a lot back, from the teachers we do, and some of the parents, but there was one child who was so excited that they showed the teacher what they had in the bag, and said they could help with Thanksgiving dinner. That’s pretty touching. When you know that there are children that it is important to, then that makes a big difference. It would be wonderful if someone would decide that this is something they could do. It’s not a paid position. It’s volunteer. But if someone would decide that this is something they could do, and that it would mean as much to them as it does to all of us who work with the program.”