According to Verde Valley School Equestrian Program Director Caroline Diehl, the Weekend Backpacks for Hungry Kids project — which she directs — is going strong, encouraging students to combat some sobering statistics.

“I’ve been involved with this Weekend Backpack project since 2013,” Diehl said. “I was horrified when I learned the statistic that 1-in-3 children in Yavapai County is hungry. I’ve lived in India and Africa at different points in my life, doing humanitarian work, but when I was in those countries I wasn’t shocked to see the hunger that surrounded me, as I grew up knowing that poverty was so prevalent on those continents.

“Learning that it existed right here in our town, amidst huge million dollar homes truly shocked and saddened me.”

In effect since 2013, Weekend Backpacks for Hungry Kids provides a backpack full of food — six meals, two snacks, two fruits and milk and juice — for students who rely on free and reduced lunches at school and don’t have access to food on the weekends. VVS has been providing Weekend Backpacks for Hungry Kids at Big Park Community School since November 2013 and Desert Star Community School since October 2015.

“VVS students love the Weekend Backpacks for Hungry Kids project,” Diehl said. “I have more students wanting to help and participate on a weekly basis than I can use. We can be super efficient with 10 to 12 people packing backpacks, so I limit the numbers to that,  but I hate turning students wanting to help away. I think it’s amazing that so many students want to help out and it truly gives me hope for this generation.

“I think part of the appeal of this project for students is that it’s so hands on. They’re collecting and sorting the food, loading it into the pantry and then into the backpacks each week. They fill those backpacks, knowing each one is helping a child and that they helped make that happen. They see our larger community working together to provide for those right here in our neighborhood and it feels really good.”

The numbers are certainly encouraging: During the 2013-14 school year, students delivered 768 backpacks. In 2014-15, this number swelled to over 1,000 backpacks. Thus far in the 2015-16 school year, 411 backpacks. Diehl estimates that the numbers for the 2015-2016 school year will be “about 1,700 backpacks total.” Currently, students are packing about 25 backpacks for Big Park students and 30 backpacks for Desert Star students weekly.

According to Diehl, the names of the students who receive backpacks are kept confidential — regardless, she asserted that a relationship is founded.

“I do know that the students and I feel more connected to the Village of Oak Creek community because of this project,” Diehl said. “I think VVS students who engage in this type of project get to experience how our world is interconnected, and that what we decide to do each day impacts those around us …. It’s one thing to donate money to help a cause, but it affects one’s heart in a deeper way when one uses their hands and interacts with others to bring a project to fruition and help others.”

Diehl understands that many people think of private schools as places of privilege, but laments that VVS students would be perceived as anything other than a population of  varied backgrounds and financial means,” living in an educational environment where multicultural understanding flourishes.

“Our students are so diverse, and yet they’re a cohesive body when it comes to making a difference in their world,” Diehl said. “I constantly hear such amazing reports from those who have worked with them in the community about what wonderful people they are and how hard they work on different projects.

“I had absolutely no doubt that the VVS community would be in support of fighting local hunger once students and faculty understood this huge hidden problem. I went ahead and made plans to take over the Weekend Backpacks projects without even feeling out the community beforehand, because it was kind of a given to me that they’d rise up and want to help. They did, of course, and the project has continued to expand because the students want to do more and more.”