Chelsea Gee
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Employee Networks at Chevron Pascagoula Re nery hosted a friendly competition throughout the month of July to bene t less-fortunate children in the Pascagoula School District through the Backpack Buddies program.
The eight participating networks collected a total of 16,171 items and $3,845 in monetary donations (more than $7,000 when matched by Chevron Humankind).
The point system for the food drive competition assigned 1 point for 1 item, and 4 points for every $1 donation.
Rather than the Networks competing against each other, donated money and food items were assigned by the giver to a college football team. The winner of the food drive competition was Itawamba Community College (Fulton, Miss.), with a total of 21,938 points, and the school’s ag will be own at the Re nery Main Gate in honor of this ‘win.’
The Backpack Buddies program was started in 1995 by a school nurse in Little Rock, Ark., who realized that children coming to her with headaches and stomach aches were actually su ering from hunger, not illness. At that time,
she began sending food home with the children in their backpacks on Fridays. The school where she worked saw an immediate improvement in grades and in enthusiasm in the children. From that time, the program has spread throughout the country. In Jackson County alone, there are Backpack Buddies programs in Gautier, Ocean Springs, Pascagoula and Moss Point.
Special thanks to Michael Keyser (Technical) and Nelson Devin (Technical) for leading this year’s food drive.
