By D. Hunter Reardon with The Catholic Virginian
On a cold winter morning just before Christmas, a small building adjacent to the sanctuary of St. Mary, Richlands, bustled with more than a dozen volunteers. Each Thursday morning at 9 a.m., the group packs meals for 170 kids, enough so that each child receives meals for Saturday and Sunday. The meals are distributed on Fridays at Richlands Elementary School.
“As you can see, this is a pretty well-oiled machine,” said volunteer Irene Breeding.
The St. Mary’s Backpack program was founded nearly two decades ago by Cathy Bolling. At first, the program fed eight children twice a month during the school year.
“We live in a very small town, and word quickly spread that Cathy had set up the Backpack program to feed needy kids,” said her husband, Randy Bolling. “She raised a considerable amount of money. As a result of this, the program continued to grow.”
Today, the St. Mary’s Backpack program is a community effort, supported by the parish, volunteers, and the diocesan Annual Appeal. It is an essential ministry in Tazewell County – where, according to Feeding America, more than 20% of children face food insecurity.
“If you go out in the countryside, you might say, ‘It looks like a pretty nice, middle-class area,’” said Dr. Larry Mitchell. “But if you go out into the hills, into some of these little hollers, you’ll see some real poverty.”
Mitchell was a family physician in Tazewell County for 37 years before retiring. Now, he volunteers at St. Mary’s Backpack each week.
“Malnutrition is a growing problem; it’s a systemic problem in our society,” he said. “Having two meals – instead of missing two meals – makes a big difference. Probably all of the kids that receive this also get free lunch and breakfast at school. So that’s two good meals a day, and this takes care of the weekend.”
St. Mary’s Backpack volunteers pack lunch bags Dec. 18, 2025. (Photo/D. Hunter Reardon)
The meals prepared at St. Mary’s Backpack include non-perishables like peanut butter, boxed pasta and canned soup.
“A lot of this is basic food. If you look at the nutrition content, it’s got some good nutrients,” said Mitchell. “It’s better than what they’d eat otherwise, which is candy or fast food.”
During his time as a physician, said Mitchell, “I saw a lot of people in need, and a lot of illness caused by malnutrition.”
As a former primary school teacher, Breeding saw the struggle firsthand, too.
“One year when I was teaching, I had maybe three kids that didn’t need assistance for lunch,” she said. “A third of my class had at least one parent in prison.” The reason, she added, was usually drug addiction.
Quite often, teachers are the ones who take notice, said Cathy Bolling.
“Generally, the teachers will notice if there’s a kid who’s not doing well,” she said. “They’ll come to us and ask for help. Once we get the word, we ask for more money from whomever can help us.”
Last year, St. Mary’s Backpack received $15,000 from the diocesan Fuel and Hunger Fund, which is supported by the Annual Appeal. For the 2026 Annual Appeal, the goal is to reach $4.9 million, with $650,000 slated for the Fuel and Hunger Fund.
Volunteer Lydia St. Peter said that St. Mary’s Backpack is applying for the same $15,000 grant in 2026.
“The Fuel and Hunger Fund has been a cornerstone of the Annual Appeal for decades. It’s a big part of why people give,” said Alex Previtera, director of development and operations for the Catholic Community Foundation. “Unfortunately, the need continues to grow.”
Money from the Fuel and Hunger Fund is distributed through the diocesan Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
The faithful will hear more about giving to the diocesan Annual Appeal in the coming weeks, with opportunities to donate in parishes during the first two weekends of Lent: Feb. 21-22 and Feb. 28-March 1.
St. Mary’s Backpack costs approximately $55,000 annually to run, said Randy Bolling.
“Right now, we have close to enough money to finish this school year, but we have nothing for the next school year,” he said.
His wife remains optimistic: “We always get by, by the seat of our pants,” said Cathy.
Mitchell likened the situation in Tazewell County to something one might see on television.
“I see these TV commercials about the little starving children in foreign countries – that’s close to the conditions we’re dealing with here,” said Mitchell. “Untreated malnutrition is deadly. So this is a good little group, with mighty good people that support it.”
Father Renier Supranes – pastor of the Holy Family Cluster that includes St. Elizabeth, Pocahontas; St. Joseph, Grundy; St. Mary, Richlands; and St. Theresa, Tazewell – drove back to Richlands from Richmond the night of Dec. 17, 2025, after celebrating a Simbang Gabi Mass at Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs, Richmond. He was at St. Mary in time to help pack lunches and celebrate Mass afterward.
“If we love somebody, we should put it into action,” Father Supranes said in his homily. “By doing acts of charity and kindness, we can be an answer to someone else’s prayers.”
Previtera added that St. Mary’s Backpack is just one of many programs supported by the Fuel and Hunger Fund.
“When you think about $15,000 supporting more than a quarter of the budget in a ministry like this – and then you think about the $650,000 in the Fuel and Hunger Fund that goes to programs all over the diocese – the impact is really incredible,” he said.
This story was originally published in The Catholic Virginian.