Rotary Roundup

Rotary Backpacks Provide Dignity to Children in Foster Care

Sometimes a family crisis requires that children be taken from their homes and placed in foster care quite suddenly, at all hours, with no time to take anything but the clothes they are wearing. Thanks to local Rotarians, when this happens in Hancock County, each child receives a backpack filled with toiletries, school supplies, clothing, blankets, toys and other items that help them cope with the drastic change in their lives. Just having something to call their own can be a great comfort.

Since February 2007, the MDI Rotary Club has been working with the state Department of Health and Human Services to give these children backpacks stuffed with materials that will help and support them. Working with staff at the Ellsworth office of DHHS, the club has donated 64 backpacks so far for children ages 6 months to 18 years.

Nick Pappas, Children’s Services Supervisor for the Hancock County office of DHHS, says the program is “the most fundamentally helpful thing we have going for us in helping these kids with the transition to a foster home.”

“When they come to us, they are often lost, lonely and crying,” Mr. Pappas said. “Before the backpack project, they were walking into a strange home dragging a garbage bag of whatever had been pulled together for them. Having something new and clean that they can call their own helps them go from a difficult situation into something positive,” he said. “The backpacks provide a measure of dignity, even for little kids.”

Rotarians Bob Rechholtz and Martha Abbott, who coordinate the project, say it’s extremely rewarding. “The DHHS staff tells us that kids’ eyes light up when they see these backpacks put together especially for them,” Mr. Rechcholtz said. “We’re providing a security blanket for the kids at a time when they really need it.”

“It feels good to deliver the backpacks to the DHHS office and hear the staff say, ‘Here comes the backpack lady,’” said Ms. Abbott. “We know this project is really making a difference.”

Although the club sets aside funds to be used for the project when necessary, most of the materials have been donated. In addition to club members, donors include Acadia Corporation, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, L.L Bean, Camp Beech Cliff, Cool as a Moose and Four the Fun of It.

The backpack project began with the MDI Rotary’s Sunrise group, composed of members who attend weekly breakfast meetings that complement the club’s lunchtime meetings. One of the Rotarians in the morning group had taken a course on adoption and was astonished to learn how many children in Maine have to be removed from their homes each year. He spoke with Mr. Pappas to find out how to help these children cope with such a traumatic upheaval. From this conversation came the idea of the Rotary-sponsored backpack project.

As the project continues, Rotarians and the DHHS staff find ways to improve it. Initially, club members stuffed items into the backpacks, but the DHHS staff encouraged the club to deliver all of the items separately. This allows the staff to customize each backpack as needed and make it age-appropriate for the child who will receive it.

The club hopes the backpack idea will spread to other Rotarians. Project coordinators plan to compile a booklet on how to develop and implement a backpack project so other clubs can help provide security and safety for children in need.

The Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary Club meets each Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. at Atlantic Oakes, 119 Eden St., Bar Harbor. The club also holds Sunrise breakfast meetings each Thursday at 7 a.m. at Tapley’s, 135 Main St., Bar Harbor. For information, visit the club web site at www.mdirotary.org, contact