Jason Moe: helping ensure that area youngsters get the nutrition they need to learn…and live.

One of the most unusual programs ever operated by MLM has quickly become one of the most successful.

The new “BackSnack” program involves packing 60 children’s backpacks with food and delivering them to needy children at Woodland Elementary School. Although a few hitches have occurred—like youngsters who forget to return the pack for a refill—the results overall have been outstanding.

“It’s worked really well,” noted Faye Cowee, Family Care Center Coordinator. “I anticipate this will grow over the next few months.”

Although the idea of food for hungry kids is appealing, the program has a deeper purpose. Begun in January with Harvesters, the work specifically looks to motivate kids to do better in school by helping to ensure that they have good food over the weekend, when they aren’t at school for lunches.

“The idea is the children who take this food home for the weekend have a better attendance level and their grades increase,” Cowee explained.

All of this is labor intensive, and that’s where MLM’s incredible volunteers enter the picture. Each Friday, volunteers go to Harvesters and pick up the food, which they bring back to MLM. They load the food into 60 backpacks then other volunteers deliver those to the school. Every Tuesday, volunteers return to the school to collect the empty packs, return them to MLM and clean them for reuse. Most impressive is Jason Moe, a volunteer who has taken it upon himself to provide special care and guidance to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Moe, who works as a mechanical engineer not far from MLM, uses his lunch hours to provide the service. A member of Atonement Lutheran Church, he doesn’t find the service a chore at all.

“It’s working well,” he said. “I’m just doing the easy part. It’s organized enough and MLM and Harvesters both run a good shop, so it’s  not that hard.”