Every Friday over 375 children attending elementary schools in Mitchell, South Dakota go home with a few snacks and the knowledge that someone cares about them.  The mission of the Mitchell Weekend Snack Pack program is to put easy to prepare snacks for the weekend in the hands of children, when parents are working or there is not food in their home.

Mitchell's Weekend Snack Pack Program is a group of local volunteers led by Cindy Novachich, Program Director.  “I am hopeful that some day a child will look back and think about how someone cared enough to give them something to eat to show the love of God to them,” said Novachich.

The program has been running since 2009 with its first delivery made January 8, 2010.  In the 2013-2014 school year close to 13,000 snack packs were distributed.  That totals about 8,400 pounds of food and over 850 volunteer hours.

Donations of food items and cash are collected throughout the year.  Each week food is sorted and packed into bags.  Every bag has five food items that are easy to prepare or fully prepared - things that a young child could easily get ready to eat. 

Novachich was working in the hospitality industry and saw the need for the people she worked with to be able to provide for their children.  Many of her co-workers were single parents who needed to work long hours.  Many struggled to make end meets.  The long hours their jobs required left children at home to fend for themselves.  So Novachich began collecting food items and giving them to the children of her co-workers. Photo: Cindy Novachich during a discussion to move the Mitchell Weekend Snack Pack program to the DWU Campus (Braley Dodson, Mitchell Republic).

Soon, other people started donating food items like pudding cups, crackers, juice boxes and other items kids would like. The ministry began in the front porch and living room of Novachich’s home.  In 2013 Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) offered space for the program to collect, store and sort donations.

Snack pack is not only about the food but also about the volunteers.  “I feel so blessed to work with this program.  It feeds my soul,” said Novachich, who attends Mitchell Fusion UMC, one of the new church starts in the Dakotas Conference.  Volunteers run the entire program through donations, packing and delivering.

Staff at the Dakotas Conference Office recently spent time volunteering for the program. Staff and family members prayed, sorted, packed and assembled bags of food to be distributed at the three Mitchell elementary schools for the weekly giveaway. Photo: Dakotas Conference UMC staff members JoAnn Schlimgen and Rev. Steve Trefz pack Snack Packs on a recent volunteer-evening at the Snack Pack office on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD. (David Stucke, Dakotas Conference UMC).