Hilary Duff Involved in Amazing Lunch Program
Hollywood is coming to Fort Wayne on Tuesday in the form of actress/singer Hilary Duff.
The recording artist and former star of "Lizzie McGuire" (TV show and movie) will visit South Wayne and Adams elementary schools and both Canterbury schools as national spokeswoman for the Blessings in a Backpack program.
The program is intended to provide food for schoolchildren who might otherwise go hungry over the weekend. Children receive backpacks full of nonperishable food on Fridays and return them on Mondays.
Michael and Gretchen Gouloff, along with SchenkelShultz Architecture, brought the program to Fort Wayne last year, first at Adams Elementary. Michael Gouloff is chairman and CEO of SchenkelShultz. About 89 percent of Adams students were eligible for a free or reduced-price school lunch last school year.
South Wayne was added to the program this year, and Canterbury high school students got involved as a service project. Every Thursday, Canterbury high school students go to South Wayne to pack backpacks with food for all the students, said Canterbury spokeswoman Karen Belcher.
At South Wayne, 88 percent of students were eligible for free or reduced lunches last school year.
Duff likes to meet the recipients of the program, and also wants to see the Canterbury students because of their participation, said Gretchen Gouloff, who has traveled with Duff to New Orleans on behalf of the program.
According to Duff's Web site, she's also an active participant, providing more than 6,000 meals a weekend for students at Normandie Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles.
South Wayne Principal Tim Bobay said his students are "pretty excited about it." Some of the female students were near tears when they heard the news, he said. The schoolchildren are learning one of Duff's songs in the hopes they can serenade her with it, he said. Students also are working on an art collage for Duff.
She will speak to the students and teachers and help pack backpacks for the upcoming weekend with Canterbury volunteers.
Canterbury students are equally excited, Belcher said. When the students in the kindergarten through eighth-grade school were told, "the little kids kind of just bounced up and down in their seats," she said.
Duff will make an appearance at both the Canterbury lower and middle school and the high school. The Canterbury students sponsored a dress-down day, where they pay a small fee so they don't have to wear their uniforms, to raise money for Blessings in a Backpack. They'll present Duff with a check from the fundraiser Tuesday.
Bobay said every student at South Wayne gets a backpack on Fridays. The few who say they don't need the food are asked to pass it on to someone who does, Bobay said.
So far he's noticed some positive benefits from the program: Attendance is up slightly on Mondays, and not as many students are coming to the nurse's office on Mondays complaining of a stomach ache. To see more of The News-Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.FortWayne.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
