The Saltillo Jr Women’s Club is planning to host the first ever Donut Dash in Saltillo, MS. This run will be a major fundraiser for the Blessing Bags program and we hope to grow it into a fundraiser that will support both the Blessing Bags and Shining Stars programs.

Blessing Bags is a backpack program in which we supply children in need within the Saltillo/ Guntown Schools with food bags to provide food over the weekend when they are not in school. We pack the bags with breakfast, lunch, and snack options. All food selections are non-perishable and “kid friendly”, so that they are able to eat without adult supervision. We currently provide 87 children, weekly, with Blessing Bags and we anticipate that this number will grow due to inflation and changes in the economy. The Women’s Club also send home extra food bags when school breaks occur. The total monthly cost of running the Blessing Bags program is roughly $1,850 or approximately $19 per child.

In addition to the Blessing Bag Program, our club also provides the Shining Stars program that serves Saltillo/ Guntown students as well. This program provides needs at Christmas time. We provide 3 shirts, 3 pants, 1 jacket/ hoodie, underwear, socks, shoes and a toiletry bag. They also receive “wishlist item(s)” that we budget at $50 that way they do get something they want at Christmas. We ask sponsors to agree to spend $200 to sponsor an entire star, however realistically, the cost has risen above this amount.

For both programs, students are identified by teachers and counselors, so that anonymity is preserved within the club. The counselors are able to get family approval and then we provid help.

In the future, we hope to see the Donut Dash catch on in popularity and grow to not only completely support both of these programs, but to also give us the opportunity to expand these programs. So that we can provide assistance year-round. This will give us the ability to provide food and clothing assistance to the students who are in the most need in our community.