Tanner Sutherland, picked up a cardboard box and raced toward pallets of cans. He picked two cans of vegetables, two of soup, and two of beef ravioli, a few granola bars, a jar of peanut butter, and two children's books that he thought looked cool, then raced to have his box sealed and loaded at the "week four shipment" table. He ran back to the pile of boxes to do it again, several times more.
At 9 years old, Sutherland is part of something bigger than himself and he is enjoying it, too.
Saturday, about 300 people, including Sutherland, gathered at Teays Valley Church of the Nazarene in Hurricane to support FACES (Feeding A Child Everyday Through The Summer). They packed boxes for the Backpack Buddy program, which provides summer shipments of food and hygiene items for approximately 700 low-income children throughout Putnam County.
Throughout the school year, the Backpack Buddy program provides bags of food for children to take home for the weekend. However, this program stops in the summer.
Thirty-nine percent of children in Putnam County are on free or reduced school lunches. Due to the rural nature of West Virginia, the lunch program provided in the summer can be difficult for children to get to.
Doug Erwin founded FACES to extend the Backpack Buddy program through the summer break.
Erwin took on the challenge of how to get food to children in Putnam County who may not be able to access the free lunches in the summer.
After exploring various shipping options, he found a way.
"You can buy all the food you want, but the kids aren't going to get it," said Erwin in regards to the summer lunch program that is often difficult for children in rural areas to get to. "This concept works, we know it's getting in the hands of the children,"
The first year of the program, Erwin and his wife packaged everything in their garage. This is the fourth year of the program.
This year, Erwin partnered with Kroger for the first time and was able to maximize the donations received from area businesses, local churches, individuals, the Putnam County Board of Education, United Way of Central WV, and the Backpack Buddy volunteer committee.
Saturday's volunteers packaged over 2,300 boxes, full of canned goods and non-perishable food as well as hygiene items like soap and toothbrushes.
Sally Sutherland, Tanner's mother, is a teacher in Putnam County. Several kids in her class have benefited from this program, she said.
Her husband, Lance Sutherland, is the coach of the Hurricane High School Basketball Team and he made sure the team came out to help.
"There's more to life than basketball," Lance said. "They need to learn to pay it forward."
The Sutherland family was one of many families who came out to support the community effort.
Sunday the program was heading to western Kanawha County to serve 400 students and this weekend they will be in Boone County to serve 300. Erwin says his next target is Clay County.
Donations can be sent to: Backpack Buddies, PO Box 830, Winfield, WV 25213.
Reach Jennifer Gardner at Jennifer.Gardner@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @jennc_gardner on Twitter.