Sheila Dion once worked as a lunch lady serving meals to students in the Phoenix Central School District. Sheila’s still feeding kids but in an entirely different role.
Now she’s executive director of an organization that provides free food for students on weekends.
The organization is Erin’s Angels, named in honor of the late Erin Maxwell, the 11-year-old girl who died Aug. 29, 2008, in her litter-filled Oswego County home out on state Route 264.
The following year, Erin’s 27-year-old stepbrother, Alan Jones, was found guilty of second-degree murder, but in 2012 a state appeals court ruled that Jones had not acted with depraved indifference when he strangled Erin. So his conviction was reduced to second-degree manslaughter, and his sentence was shortened to five to 15 years in prison.
Nourishment needed
Erin’s short and tragic life has inspired the formation of Erin’s Angels in her name, a group dedicated to preventing hunger via the backpack program it began last year in conjunction with the Southern Oswego County Council of Churches. The program provides nourishment for elementary students in the Phoenix district when school was not in session. Volunteers spent every Thursday packing bags for needy students, filling the bags with a weekend’s worth of food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
“When the children go on winter and spring break, we increased that to include food for the whole week,” Dion said. “We often pack oatmeal or cereal bowls, cans of soup, Hormel complete meals, boxes of mac and cheese and more.”
Last year, 32 elementary students received food as part of the backpack program.
Even more students are expected to benefit in 2018-2019, as middle and high schools are opening up the program to the teenage demographic. For information, visit erinsangels.com or call Dion at (315) 399-6602.
‘Food is a school supply’
“Food is a school supply for hungry kids,” Dion insists. “Since nutrition affects cognitive, social and emotional development, when children fail to get proper foods they’re more likely to have problems learning, growing and interacting.” Erin’s Angels ensures that children who rely on subsidized lunches continue to receive food vital to their growth and development.
Looking to build on the program’s inaugural year, 2013 Phoenix graduate Liz Russell started researching grant opportunities help sustain it into the future. Russell, who is studying information sciences at Syracuse University, successfully applied for a $5,000 grant from the Shineman Foundation.
“We’re hoping to expand Erin’s Angels into other nearby school districts, including Liverpool,” Dion said last month. The program is loosely modeled after the Blessings in a Backpack program now underway in the Syracuse City School District.
L’pool Backpack Blessings
In fact, the Blessings in a Backpack program has a Liverpool chapter, No. 1854, which has teamed up with the City School District to provide bags of food to children at Seymour Dual Language Academy on Shonnard Street.
More than 560 Seymour students need food over the weekend, but so far the backpack program is feeding 200 of them. Four Liverpool churches — St. Paul’s Lutheran, St. Matthew’s Episcopal, First United Methodist and First Presbyterian — are partnering on the project.
The Liverpool chapter’s coordinator is John Meyer, and committee members include Lois Ayer, Cathy Rosenbarker, Amy Thackston and Don Van Dusen.
For info, visit blessingsinabackpackliverpoolny.org or call (949) 500-5176.
Last word
“Food insecurity is a family that has enough money to buy groceries three out of four weeks; it’s a mom skipping dinner; it’s having to choose between buying groceries and paying rent.” – Lucy Melcher, director of advocacy and government relations for the nonprofit Share Our Strength.
The columnist can be reached at [email protected].
