- Associated Press - Sunday, February 5, 2017

CRAIGSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - For a couple years, Quinn Raffo has waged a small battle against childhood hunger.

Now, thanks to a $2,000 grant from US Cellular, the 13-year-old Richwood Middle School student can continue her Hungry Heroes backpack program.

“It’s really an important program,” she said of Hungry Heroes. The Mountaineer Food Bank statistics show 37 West Virginia counties are classified as either At-Risk or Distressed, meaning those areas rank in the worst 25 percent of the nation’s counties according to economic status indicators. Overall, West Virginia suffers from a food insecurity rate of more than 15 percent. Statistics pertaining to Nicholas County were not readily available over the weekend.

The idea came to Quinn after being required to fast for 24 hours for medical tests. She was allowed to eat Jell-O and popsicles. “I thought it was really going to be awesome, but it wasn’t, because I really got hungry,” she said.

After the medical testing, she approached a local church about creating a backpack program to feed less fortunate youths. At first she raised money by holding a car wash for a food pantry, recruiting many of her friends. That fundraiser brought in about $1,200 for the food pantry, enough to provide food for 35 youths for six weeks.

This inspired Quinn, but she was worried the program only served two elementary schools in Nicholas County. She was determined to start a backpack program to include as many schools in Nicholas County as she could. Quinn, with the help of community leaders and her parents, wrote and received grants from local organizations and the United Way of Southern West Virginia. She met with the pastor and congregation of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church asking to use their building to pack the backpacks.

St. Luke’s Pastor Corbet May remembers meeting with Quinn. She came in, pulled up a chair and outlined what she wanted to do.

“She explained her vision. It’s really great when you see a vision become a reality,” he said in a YouTube video posted by former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s office.

That first year, 50 children were helped. Since then the Hungry Heroes backpack program has expanded significantly. Quinn estimated over the last couple years hundreds of students were fed by Hungry Heroes, which provides each participant a bag with enough food to cover breakfast, lunch and snack one day a week. The bags are filled with oatmeal, individual cereals, Pop Tarts and Go-gurt for breakfast. Lunch can be noodles, crackers, and mac and cheese, and snacks can include Gold Fish, fruit and Cheez-Its, she said.

Quinn understands transportation is an issue for some students, so often she meets students and families at the Craigsville Dollar General to distribute the bags.

The latest grant, she said, will help greatly. She’s aware of the county’s struggling economy - layoffs in the mining industry, June’s flooding - and she expects an uptick in demand for the food bags when school ends.

“I expect an increase in need this summer,” she said. “I would like to expand to other places, like Richwood.”

The US Cellular grant will probably purchase enough food for the summer season, she said, adding she usually buys food from Walmart and in bulk.

Quinn said the response to handing out the bags is a study in psychology. “They come in and say ’thank you,’ but not really much more. Sometimes we get a hug,” she said.

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Information from: The Register-Herald, https://www.register-herald.com

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