TOPS Club members present for the Webb City CARES donation Monday at Central United Methodist Church are Terri Fort, Linda Rockers, Stella Bowman, Ana Pennington, Merle Wallace and Kelly Beckett. Accepting for the church to include with its donation are Pastor Josh Ritzheimer and Rachelle Gerszewski, administrative assistant.

TOPS Club members encourage others to help fill WC CARES backpacks


Bob Foos

Local TOPS Club members are doing their part to fill the shelves for the Webb City CARES backpack program.

During their weekly meeting Monday, they donated 40.6 pounds of backpack items through Central United Methodist Church, where they meet.

The 40.6 pounds is the amount of weight club members have lost since the first of the year.

TOPS Club’s focus is more on healthy living for life than just losing weight. Though, the acronym still stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly.

Membership in the local group is “absolutely open.” Meetings are, as they have been for many years, held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Mondays at the church.

Pastor Josh Ritzheimer said the shelves looked pretty bare during a recent visit to the Webb City CARES office.

Director Jesse DeGonia and his assistant, Lisa Peterson, agree that some items are on the verge of running out.

Each weekend, 150 backpacks are filled with a wide variety of healthy snacks (and ramen noodles) to tide the students over until their next school lunch.

The backpack program requires a community effort, yet DeGonia says he realizes it’s difficult now when “you can’t afford to bring home, let alone donate to a pantry.”

Lisa Peterson and Jesse DeGonbia verify the Webb City CARES shelves are almost bare of items used to fill backpacks each Friday. 150 items of each snack are needed each week.
MOST WANTED backpack items.

If you’re at the store wanting to help out, Peterson says you can’t go wrong with these basic choices:

  • Fruit cups
  • Applesauce
  • Pudding cups
  • and RAMEN

Here’s what else is on the full list:

  • Peanut butter cups – individual sized (Jif To Go)
  • Slim Jims
  • Pop Tarts
  • Popcorn – microwavable
  • Macaroni & cheese – microwavable
  • Cereal – individual servings
  • Instant oatmeal – individual servings
  • Peanut butter crackers
  • Cheese crackers
  • Fruit roll ups
  • Granola bars
  • Cereal bars
  • Raisins
  • Cookies – individual packs

Christ’s Church of Oronogo is expected to hold its big annual drive for Webb City CARES this month, which will help a lot.

But DeGonia says the program really relies on partners that steadily bring in donations throughout the year.

Those patrons include Central United Methodist Church, First Baptist Church, First Christian Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Donations can be brought in during school hours to the Webb City CARES office, which is on the north end of the Student Services Center, 1000 N. Main St.

Webb City CARES is a 503(c)(3) nonprofit organization, so financial donations are tax-deductible. The mailing address is 1000 N. Main St., Webb City MO 64870.

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