Our History

  • Started as a Kettering Leadership Academy team project

  • Beta Test: 15 children at JFK with food supplied by donation with assembly/distribution from a private home (no outlay of funding)

2006

  • Supported full school year with 135 children across 9 elementary schools

  • Food supplied/assembled/distributed in partnership with Foodbank

  • Funding primarily supported by Kettering Fairmont High School Spirit Chain and private donations

  • Cost per bag: $5.60 per child each week

2007

  • Ignited volunteer momentum from the community

  • Summer expansion provided backpacks for children in Camp Funtastic

2008

Several key partnerships evolved to reduce cost and expand the program to 360 children across the 9 elementary schools:

  • Food donated by various entrepreneurial efforts

  • Food purchased at the Wal-Mart on Dorothy Lane with a 10% discount

  • Christ United Methodist Church supplies the food warehouse, volunteer labor to assemble the bags

  • Town & Country Shopping Center is a secondary storage for milk

  • The school district distributes the food to the elementary schools

  • Counselors still select the children and make sure the food goes home

  • Kettering Education Foundation provides business assistance, bookkeeping, tax receipts, etc.

  • Funding primarily supported by KFHS Spirit Chain, Kettering Service Organizations (Kettering Noon Optimist Club, Dor-Wood Optimist Club, Kettering Rotary Club), City of Kettering department food drive initiatives, several church commitments, and private donations.

  • Cost per bag: $4.00 per child each week

  • Summer continuation with children in Camp Funtastic

2009

  • Program expanded to 400 children with limited expansion to middle schools

  • More community momentum and application for stand-alone 501(c)(3) pursued and approved

  • Selected as beneficiary for the Kettering Mayor’s Ball for Charity, hosted by the Kettering Rotary Club and the City of Kettering

2010

  • Program expanded to 475 children in the middle and elementary schools

  • Kettering Backpack, Inc. structure begins to take shape with establishment of Board of Directors

  • Partnerships grow as word spreads 2012 Program expanded to over 500 students

  • Served first high school student

  • Started stabilization of new board

  • Awarded Community All-Stars, Dayton Dragons

2011

  • Marketing expansion of the program

  • Increased donations and the number of backpacks served

  • Transitioned new leadership

  • Increased stabilization of the program with continued growth of service and volunteers

2013

  • Opened a second distribution site at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Kettering

2014

  • Established philanthropic partnership with Wilmer-Hale, a law firm located in Kettering

  • Selected as beneficiary for the Kettering Mayor’s Ball for Charity, hosted by the Kettering Rotary Club and the City of Kettering

  • Hired Executive Director

2015

  • KBP Operations are moved to a new facility at Christ United Methodist Church

  • KBP Board focuses on mission and adds 5 new schools, increases delivery to 600 students

2016

  • Now serving Fairmont High School

  • Community support continues to fund us through local businesses, CFC, service organizations, churches, the Fairmont Student Body Spirit Chain, and Kettering City Schools staff

2017

  • Established a food pantry inside of Fairmont High School

  • Board decides to add 3 more schools over the next year to weekly distributions, increasing delivery to 700+ students in efforts to serve all students attending school in Kettering

2018

  • After much analysis, the Board voted to cap our service population at 720 students. Servicing that many children each week stretched our infrastructure to the limit, but by doing so we were finally able to meet our goal of reaching every hungry student within the City of Kettering limits.

  • We are so appreciative to our long-term supporters and partners including Fairmont Spirit Chain, Kettering City Schools Staff, the Combined Federal Campaign, Christ United Methodist Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, David’s Church, and Fairmont Presbyterian Church

2019

  • The COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the Kettering Backpack Program responded. We ensured children were still able to get weekend bags by working with the Kettering School Lunch Program. This ranged from an ever-evolving plan such as distribution sites and following school buses delivering the school lunches. The Kettering Backpack Program saw the need for food and continued providing weekend bags throughout the summer.

  • The COVID-19 pandemic greatly hit the food supply chain causing the foods to change quite often to find nutritious, shelf-stable foods that were available in large quantities. The Kettering community also joined in with providing generous donations to help support those in need.

2020

  • The Kettering Backpack Program re-vamped the food items in the weekend bags. We decided the most important factor to focus on was supplementing the foods that were likely already in the home. We decided to focus on protein and nutrients over calories to improve the fullness factor and lack of nutrition. We thought about supply issues, the need for shelf-stable supplemental nutritious foods, what kids will eat, maximizing the protein content with the least amount of sodium as possible, and the need to re-brand in order to help our donors and recipients to understand the choices behind each food item in the bag. We came up with a new definition of the bag: “To provide nutritious, kid friendly, supplemental food for students to consume over the weekend.” The new food items provide a 60% increase in calories and more nutrient-dense foods with calcium, vitamin C, zinc, iron, and B vitamins. The protein content will be meets or exceeds half of the weekend’s protein needs for the children we serve.

2021