Frank Billand knows what it’s like to be a hungry child. He grew up in Hawaii in the ‘50s with 11 other family members in his household.

“So food kinda sometimes got scarce,” he said. “So I knew what it was to be hungry, although we didn’t starve, but we didn’t eat real healthy.”

Fast forward to retirement and Billand finds himself volunteering as a driver for a backpack program to feed hungry students in the Renton School District. It’s run by Communities in Schools of Renton and the Salvation Army. Volunteers find it as rewarding as it is helpful to the community.

“It’s a worthwhile program,” said Billand. “A hungry kid doesn’t study, they can’t focus. It’s hard for them to focus with their stomach grinding and bringing in the backpacks kinda gets rid of the stigma, if you know what I mean of not having money.”

The backpack program has hooked up 245 students so far this year with meals and snacks packed into a backpack for the weekend every Friday. The backpacks are returned by the students on Monday and the process starts over again.

The program is funded entirely through donations and costs about $26,892 for the whole school year.

Being entirely dependent on donations is a tenuous situation, especially with the number of students to grow an anticipated 600 students, said Martha Barrett, Salvation Army community liaison.

“It’s very scary because we’re dependent on that; we’re depending on the goodness of the community,” said Barrett.

Although she is quick to say that Renton has been very generous so far, the need for food is growing. People are still experiencing a lot of financial crisis, she said.

“Because of the way the whole welfare laws are stated that you only have 36 weeks to receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families),” said Barrett. “Now families are forced to go back to work. So when you have an income you no longer qualify for a certain number of food stamps.”

That disparity has caused a domino effect, she said, and put a strain on food banks and other food assistance programs. The backpack program is free to the students.

“We have volunteers who are dedicated to this, but at the end of the day if we don’t have food to give out, we don’t have anything to give out. We don’t have backpacks,” she said.

Linda DeCample and Phyllis Anderson are both retired school teachers who felt motivated to volunteer their time packing backpacks with food.

“So, because for 25 years I was working with kids and loved it, this is a way for me to continue supporting these kids,” said DeCample.

She taught at two fairly affluent schools but did recognize students who came to school hungry. DeCample has been volunteering for the program for a year and a half. The people are wonderful, there’s a certain amount of respect and caring at the Salvation Army, she said.

“It’s a joy to come down here and work a couple of days,” said DeCample.

Anderson considers herself the foreman of the group. She’s usually the one to take charge if something needs to be done, she said laughing.

“It’s a fun program to work in and if there’s others out there who would like to get involved in this program, particularly on the day we’re bagging that’s a day we could really use more manpower.”

It takes the volunteers about three and half to four hours to bag the food and pack it.

For more information on volunteering for this program contact Martha Barrett at 425-255-5969, ext. 205.