Micah’s Caring Initiative

Micah’s Backpack is a weekend meals program for students on free meal plans in Blacksburg Public Schools. The goal of the program is to provide weekend meals and snacks to these children and ensure that they have a steady and nutritious source of food over the weekends when school is not in session. Sadly, for some families, the meals provided by the schools are the only guaranteed source of nutrition that these students have. Providing meals for the weekends helps extend this guarantee.

Each backpack contains two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, as well as snacks. Participants receive items such as oatmeal, juice, tuna, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, soup, apple sauce, fruit cups, ravioli, vegetables, milk, and other nutritious food. The food is sorted and packed on Thursday evenings by volunteers and then distributed on Friday afternoons to the participants. Through the generous support of our funders, we are proudly able to provide a bag of food to every student that needs one at all five Blacksburg Elementary schools, Blacksburg Middle School, Blacksburg High School, the Headstart Preschools, and Valley Interfaith Child Care Center; currently this means providing for over 300 children each week.

For more information on Micah’s Backpack you can contact the program’s director, Marian Brown, at hope@micahsbackpack.org.

Micah’s Garden is a seasonal food initiative that provides fresh produce to local food banks. People who rely on food banks do not often have affordable or easy access to fresh produce. Micah’s garden works to provide a steady stream of fresh, healthy, produce to our local food banks.

Micah’s garden is set up as a community garden with both private and community (food bank) space. Those with private plots agree to volunteer at the garden to take care of the community crops. The 2012 growing season was our first season, and as of mid-August, we have been able to donate over 1,100 pounds of fresh produce to our three food bank partners. We have given several varieties of squash, beans, peas, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, corn, and other crops. The produce has been well received by the food banks and their patrons who are happy to have fresh vegetables available.

Micah’s garden can always use volunteers to water, weed, harvest, plant, and do other tasks. If you are interested in helping out or securing a plot for the
next growing season please contact Mary Nickle (hope@micahsgarden.org).

The goal of Micah’s Soup for Seniors is to provide food and social contact for seniors living on fixed incomes. St. Michael is partnering with Warm Hearth, a senior adult housing facility, to provide food to seniors living in HUD housing. As Micah’s Backpack has done for local students, we hope to bridge a food gap which exists for many senior adults surviving on limited, fixed incomes. Food is delivered on the fourth Tuesday of the month to help fill the gaps that may exist while seniors wait for their social security checks that come out at the beginning of each month. This end of the month period is usually when seniors who live on fixed incomes need the most help. The food deliveries also provide the seniors with an added point of social contact, as well as an added person who is able to check on their physical and emotional wellbeing. We serve the three HUD housing units at Warm Hearth, a total of 144 residents. If you would like to help out with Micah’s Soup for Seniors program, please contact Dianne Krallman (Dhkrallman@hubbell-ltg.com).

Micah’s Closet – Micah’s Closet provides up to a week’s worth of new school clothes to children in need, through a partnership with schools, churches, community groups, businesses, and individuals. Micah’s Closet works closely with school staff and social workers to provide new clothing for identified children. The school staff or social workers select the children who need new clothes and supply the clothing sizes to Micah’s Closet. Micah’s Closet volunteers purchase the clothing and return them to St. Michael. Volunteers place the clothing in a separate colorful reusable bag for each child, and deliver the bags to the school or to the social worker. School staff members or social workers distribute the gifts of clothing to the selected children.

Micah’s Mini Pantry – Micah’s Mini Pantry is the newest facet in the Micah’s Caring Initiative and will be located onsite at St. Michael Lutheran Church to provide extra needs to the surrounding communities in our area. Whether a need for food and personal care items, or a need to give, mini pantries help feed neighbors and nourish neighborhoods.

Micah’s Mini Pantry is part of our ongoing work towards those families and others who risk food insecurity in our community. Our message to “take what you need, and leave what you can” will allow those individuals a safe way to gather a few necessary food and personal care items but also leave something for others if they are able. Micah’s Mini Pantry can be found at St. Michael Lutheran Church 2308 Merrimac Road Blacksburg, Virginia 24060. The mini pantry is behind the Bell Tower directly to the left side of the main building right down the parking lot.

Micah’s Mini Pantry consists of non-perishable food and some personal care items. Donations of non-perishable, non-expired foods such as peanut butter, jelly, canned tuna, canned pasta, boxes of cereal, cans of soup, canned beans, canned vegetables, canned meats and proteins, and personal care items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, bar soaps, hair products, hygiene products like toilet paper/paper towels and deodorant are very welcome and may be left at the church Mondays from 10am – 12 noon. Thank you for your support. Please contact Jada at jbrown81016@gmail.com for more information on how to get involved.