CIBC staff raise money to help support Blessings in a Backpack program

While breakfast and lunch programs can feed hungry students during the day, at night and on weekends many students go without food.

That’s where Amina Abou-Bakare steps in.

The Thunder Bay woman last year brought the Blessings in a Basket program to the city, partnering with Our Kids Count and the Regional Food Distribution Association to provide food to children in need to take home and eat during school off hours.

“I knew there was a need for it when my kids were younger,” Abou-Bakare said on Wednesday.

“A lot of kids at the breakfast club, it turned out that was the only meal they were having at school. I always wanted to find out what we could do.”

A future school council chairwoman, she learned about the U.S.-started program and decided to fill a gap locally.

“Canada is the only G8 country that has no meal plan for schools,” she said.

“These kids go to school and they are fed breakfast and lunch at school. But dinner and weekends have been the hardest.”

The RFDA provides four food items and boxes to pack the meals in, while Our Kids Count provides fresh fruit.

“We started with 78 kids and in three schools. Now we’re doing 150 children and going into five schools,” Abou-Bakare said.

“There’s still work to be done and I’m grateful for every penny.

She said her biggest supporters have been organizations like the Kiwanis Club and corporate partners like the staff at the Red River Road CIBC branch, who raised more than $600 selling bags of candy to customers, $1 at a time.

Assistant branch manager Donna McGonigal said it was a simple way to give back to the community.

“It was a joint effort of all the staff,” she said.

“We were really thrilled to be able to donate to that cause, Blessings in a Backpack.”

McGonigal said it’s tough to think that students come to school with no food in their stomachs, which is why she and the staff at the bank have pitched in, even volunteering time to stuff the backpacks full of food.

“It’s just amazing what this group does for our children,” McGonigal said.