School Superintendent Embraces Community Partnerships to fight hunger in schools - by Lea Hurt

Over 50 community volunteers and school representatives met Wednesday morning to share ideas on helping hungry students in Anne Arundel County. 

In recent years, a growing number of church and civic groups have partnered with local schools to provide weekend meals for students who rely on free school lunch during the week.  These programs go by different names, but all have the same goal of providing food, and sometimes essential supplies, to economically disadvantaged students.   

Heritage Baptist Church, which operates a “Backpack Buddies” program serving 45 students at Georgetown East and Mills Parole, hosted the event to provide a venue for idea-sharing.  The audience was made up of representatives from civic and religious groups currently operating a program in local schools, as well as those who would like to start a program.  Staff members from schools across the county were also on hand to discuss how to connect with these resources. 

Anne Arundel County Superintendent of Education Dr. Kevin Maxwell embraced these partnerships.  “We need your help,” he told the volunteers.  “We are thankful for all the work that’s been done, but we still have much to do.”

After opening remarks by Maxwell, Heritage Baptist Backpack Buddies coordinator Mary Ann Fulford and Rev. Henry Green, volunteers broke into two discussion groups.  Teresa Tudor, Administrator for the county Office of School and Family Partnerships, worked with the school representatives on their role in these programs.  Jeanine Salyers, of Heritage’s Backpack Buddies program, led a discussion with civic and church groups on the implementation of a program.  John Shaia of the Maryland Food Bank discussed how volunteers can best utilize food bank services.

Organizers of Wednesday’s forum hope to hold another meeting in the near future to continue the discussion.  For more information, contact Mary Ann Fulford, Heritage Baptist’s Backpack Buddies coordinator, through the church office at 410.263.6680 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A photo gallery of this event is on this website in our Picture Gallery.

For past articles on the Backpack Buddies program at Heritage, see these links:

Backpack Buddies in the News: http://www.heritagebaptistonline.com/church/news/1401-backpack-buddies-in-the-news

Spotlight: Backpack Buddies: http://www.heritagebaptistonline.com/church/spotlight/1173-spotlight-backpack-buddies