News & Events
Backpack Program
​For the past ten years, St. Luke's has provided weekly backpacks of non-perishable items to food-insecure students, giving them six meals for the weekend. This past school year we filled 26 bags per week. In addition to regular supplies for weekends, we packed boxes with either a turkey or a ham and all the fixings for a holiday dinner for those families and delivered them to the school for distribution.​​​
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Our funding comes largely through grants and private donations. Most of the food comes from the Northeast Food Bank in Albany, which delivers it once a month to the Southside Mall in Oneonta. Team members pick up the food order and bring it back to church where volunteers unload it, take inventory, and stock the shelves.​​​​​​​​​​
Sarah Grote is the coordinator of the program and is responsible for placing food orders and keeping track of all the volunteers. Using a guide supplied by the food bank, she plans the menus for each week and emails them to team members who pack bags or backpacks from this list on Thursdays. They are delivered to Sidney Elementary School on Friday mornings.
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In response to a request from the school (based on their assessment of need), we will increase to 31 the number of families we will support in 2026. Church volunteers have installed additional shelving for food storage and others have committed to spend additional time on this effort. We are always looking for additional donations to fund this worthy endeavor.