Our final car show of the season will be combined with a Trunk or Treat! Show your car, or decorate your trunk (or both!). The same $20 entry donation applies to all participating vehicles.
Trunk or Treat at Route 102 Car Show!
Blog
BIB Funding Progress 2022-2023
BIB RVC is approximately 1/3 funded for this current 2022-2023 school year. Most of this funding came from another BIB program that closed and gave us the funds they had left over–$18,000.
In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be sharing some of the funding sources for BIB RVC for this year on our Facebook Page, so be sure to give it a like and follow along.
You can still also participate in our “Virtual Packing Night” fundraiser.
Virtual “bag packing” Fundraiser
It’s the beginning of a new school year and BIB RVC food items will begin to be distributed after Labor Day.
One of the difficult parts of being in a pandemic has been the cancellation of our fun packing nights. Pre-pandemic, approximately 20 volunteers gathered each week to pack hundreds of bags of food to be distributed over the weekend in the schools we serve. During the pandemic, and even now, we’ve had to switch to using pre-packaged meals. The benefits of this are a lighter bag that takes up less room and is easier for a student to carry. Using prepacks also made some grants available that required their use.
The number of students and schools we serve has only continued to increase.
In the 2022-2023 school year we are anticipating serving approximately 500 students. That means we need to raise $55,000 to provide them with weekend nutrition.
How can you help?
Attend our “virtual packing” fundraiser–done in the comfort of your own home.
Here’s how it works.
- Gather a team of 5 people and sign up for a “virtual packing” slot (you are NOT actually packing bags).
- Have your team pledge to donate $22 each for a team total of $110.
- Send in your donations.
Each team of 5 will raise $110, which funds one child for the school year.
19 teams of 5 will raise $2,090, which funds 19 children for the school year.
You can even listen to the BIBRVC packing playlist while you get your team together!
Pasta Dinner Fundraiser
2022 Car Show Dates
Mark your calendars! Our annual Car Show fundraiser dates and times have been selected. This year’s car show fundraisers for Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities will be on:
- Sunday, July 17
- Sunday, August 21
- Sunday, September 18
- Sunday, October 16
The shows will take place from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. More information and registration forms will be available closer to the date of the event.
2021 Car Shows
Three summer car shows to benefit Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities have been planned for:
July 18 | August 15 | September 19
1:00 to 4:00 pm
- Registration $10
- Awards
- 50/50 drawing
- concessions
- entertainment
- cruise Bourbonnais (pending)
BIBeRich
Gathering Point Church in Bourbonnais recently held their annual “Be Rich” Campaign in which they raise money to donate to local non-profit organizations. This year, Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities was one of the recipients of this campaign.
On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, Justin Knight, Pastor of Ministry Advancement, presented a check to BIBRVC in the amount of $10,000.
This generous gift has ensured that Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities is fully funded for the 2020-2021 school year!
Being fully funded for this year means that we have hit our goal of serving 400 students, an increase of 44 students from the last school year, and it means that we can continue to get ahead on our fundraising for the 2021-2022 school year!
Watch Gathering Point’s “Be Rich” video featuring Dan Harris of Kennedy Middle School.
BIB 2020-2021 Updates
Despite 2020 being a year more different than any of us expected, Blessings in a Backpack continues to provide weekend nutrition to our 14 different schools in Kankakee County.
Last spring when restrictions were imposed, we switched to providing children with pre-packaged food kits instead of packing individual items on Wednesday nights. We will continue to use the prepacks for now, but we really miss the fun and camaraderie of packing nights! Deliveries to our schools will begin this week.
Last spring, we began planning a “mini golf outing” fundraiser and were disappointed to have had to cancel it (but we WILL do it at some point!). Our Advisory Team was not deterred, however, and did an online fundraiser through social media that raised approximately $10,000 in just a few days. We’ve also received donations from individuals and churches, as well as grant money from the national Blessings in a Backpack organization as well as locally through the Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley via their Community Works grant.
With all of that…
BIB is 80% funded for the 2020-2021 school year!
Normally at this point in the year, we are at around 50% funding. This community has come through and shown that it cares about its vulnerable and hungry children.
Our goal is to be fully funded by the end of 2020. Are you up for the challenge?
Donations to BIB can always be made electronically or by check mailed to: Central Christian Church, PO Box 403, Bourbonnais, IL 60914. And, if you’d rather be creative and join with a group of friends, family, or coworkers to raise money, send us links and pictures of what you’re doing. It takes a community working together to make sure the kids get fed this weekend.
You Will Feed the Kids This Weekend
Who will feed the kids this weekend?
YOU will feed the kids this weekend!
Since we had to cancel our much-anticipated mini-golf outing fundraiser for August, we’re starting an online fundraiser NOW in order to fund Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities for the 2020-2021 school year.
We are anticipating our numbers increasing to 400 students for this coming year and that means we need to raise $40,000.
That’s only $100 per kid per year.
BIBRVC is in 16 local schools with an average of 25 kids per school who receive weekend nutrition.
Here’s how you can help.
Decide to fund a kid for a year, either by yourself or with a group, and make your donation at https://bibrvc.com/home/donate/
It’s that simple.
We’ll update our infographic regularly to show funding progress.
Help us turn ALL these backpacks green!
Share this post on your own timeline with the hashtag #bibrvc to spread the word. Thank you to everyone in the community for all your support!
It’s Time for Pie!
Blessings in a Backpack RVC is running a month-long Bakers Square “Sweet Return” fundraiser. With each card you get a pie of your choice from Bakers Square, including specialty pies.
The cards are $20 each or 3/$50.
Please contact Ashlie Coughlan at (815) 212-8309 to order your cards.
Blessings in a Backpack River Valley Communities 