This week we are pleased to welcome Cindy Scruggs and Carol Grady and hear all about this great Howard County program.
Blessings in a Backpack (BIAB) provides food for students on the free and reduced lunch program who might not have enough to eat on weekends. There are currently five Howard County elementary schools which offer this program: Cradlerock, Jeffers Hill, Running Brook, Swansfield, and Talbott Springs. Over one hundred students in Columbia, Maryland receive BIAB meals each week.
Blessings in a Backpack is a national organization that provides organizational support and guidelines for the participating schools. However, each program must raise its own funds, of which 100% goes to purchase food. In accordance with guidelines set by the national organization, $80-$100 per student per academic year is budgeted. Each year since it began in Howard County in 2012, the need for the program has continued to grow. They hope to sustain the program by garnering financial support that the group can count on from year-to-year.
Carol Grady has been a teacher at East Columbia Preschool for 15 years. She also volunteers as a docent at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She is a long-time school volunteer, chairing a variety of PTA committees and holding several offices, including PTA president. Carol was awarded the Friend of Education Award by the Howard County Board of Education in 2001.
Cindy Scruggs works in the Teacher Education Department at Howard Community College as a mentor for early childhood development students. She also chaired several PTA committees, served as PTA president, and was awarded the Friend of Education Award by the Howard County Board of Education in 2003.
Both Carol and Cindy became involved in the Blessings in a Backpack program in 2013. They coordinate the program at Swansfield Elementary School in Columbia, MD.
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