Fūdrr, Peace Choir Support School Backpack Program in Moriarty

“The program this year has made a huge difference. Test scores, attendance and grades are up. It has been a wonderful blessing for me to watch the entire community and churches working together for these children.” Sue Gibson, parent-teacher liaison at Moriarty Elementary School

Photo: Central Baptist Association

The Moriarty Elementary School weekend backpack program has been in place since the 2014 school year, when Sue Gibson, parent-teacher liaison, brought Pastor Dennis Garcia of The People Church in Moriarty and Sheryl Stewart from the Mountain Valley Church Bible Study in Edgewood to help address a chronic problem faced by students at the elementary school.

“On Mondays, we would have hungry, sick children,” Gibson told K. Faith Morgan from Lifeway in an article published in October 2015. “They would come to school so hungry that they would overeat for breakfast and then throw up because of it. Some of them were so hungry, they couldn’t eat.”

Garcia and Stewart teamed up to create a program to send students home on Fridays with  backpacks stocked with food for the weekend—two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and plenty of between-meal snacks. Over the  past several years has helped put a dent on hunger among families in Moriarty, where an estimated 28 percent of residents live below the poverty line.

A Web-Based Effort and a Concert
Other organizations are helping with the effort, including Fūdrr, the healthy lifestyle website created and managed by Kids Cook and sponsored by Presbyterian Center for Community Health.

With support from the Interfaith Hunger Coalition, Fūdrr is helping ensure that the weekend backpacks are filled with healthy alternatives. This web-based effort encourages participants to earn produce at local retailers by participating in certain activities. If you are not a member of Fūdrr, you can join here.

While the effort has applied broadly to many areas of New Mexico, Fūdrr and the Peace Choir have targeted Moriarty Elementary School for a special campaign around a concert on Sunday, September 29, 4:00 p.m. at the Moriarty High School Performing Arts Center, 200 Center Street, Moriarty, NM 87035

The Peace Choir concert, which is free, will promote the Fūdrr effort.

The concert also serves as a farewell for Peace Choir director and founder Christy Conduff, who taught for many years in the Moriarty/Edgewood and Estancia School Districts for many years.To attend the concert,pick up a free ticket or purchase a special VIP ticket via Eventbrite. (VIP tickets allow attendees early entrance and a choice of seats).

While the concert is putting a strong focus on child hunger in the Moriarty area, overall food insecurity remains a concern for the area. To that end,  Fūdrr has begun a conversation with the Bethel Community Storehouse pantry (partly on behalf of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition). The East Mountain Food Pantry in nearby Tijeras is also a possibility for our outreach efforts in the areas east of Albuquerque. Stay tuned.