COEUR d'ALENE - A few years ago, Sheri Bullock was watching television, and learned about something she couldn't get out of her head.

In another part of the United States, people were providing backpacks of food for school children to take home with them on the weekends, kids who don't have a reliable food source when they're not in school.

"I wondered if Coeur d'Alene had a program like that," Bullock said.

Nothing similar was happening in the Lake City.

The idea kept nagging at Bullock, as did increasing reports of hungry, sometimes homeless, impoverished children living in Coeur d'Alene.

When Bullock heard that some kids were showing up for school on Monday mornings, and complaining of hunger, it became a call to action. CDA Backpack Program was born.

"I just think the kids are innocent victims. They didn't choose to be where they are," Bullock said.

Bullock began reaching out to anyone she thought might be able to help - friends, family and other community members.

"Lots of people jumped on board," Bullock said.

Lake City Community Church's food bank got behind the program, allowing the group to operate under their nonprofit status and providing space and resources to help get the backpacks filled and delivered.

By November, Bullock had a pilot program up and running at Lakes Middle School.

Counselors discreetly identified 16 students, and with their parents' consent, each of those kids began a weekly ritual of picking up a nondescript, food-filled backpack to take home each Friday.

"The kids love it. They are so excited on Fridays," she said.

The pilot was a success, and by the end of the school year in June, there were 25 backpacks going home with children at Lakes, and another five at Fernan Elementary School.

Last year, the program was entirely supported by donations, some financial and some food. Super 1 Foods was one of their first large supporters.

Bullock continued reaching out to everyone she could think of for help, and received several grants - one from Kiwanis of Coeur d'Alene, and another funded by the Ironman Foundation and distributed by the Coeur d'Alene Thursday Evening Rotary Club.

"It just proves how much this community needs this," Bullock said.

With more than $17,000 in donations and grant money, CDA Backpack Program is poised this year to send the weekly backpacks, filled with child-friendly, non-perishable, nutritious foods, home with 100 kids from four different schools - Lakes and three elementary schools, Fernan, Borah and Winton.

Bullock, who packed and delivered the first backpacks by herself, now has 30 volunteers working with her.

Fundraising continues, Bullock said, and there is always room for more helping hands.

There are currently 311 students identified as homeless attending kindergarten- to- 12th-grade schools in Coeur d'Alene, and 50 percent of the district's roughly 10,000 students meet low-income criteria for free or reduced lunches.

The Coeur d'Alene School District's nutrition services department is also doing what it can to help take some stress off families struggling to provide their kids with a reliable food source, said nutrition program director, Ed Ducar.

The district is taking advantage of a special assistance alternative under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. It allows the district to provide free breakfasts to students this year at several district schools - Borah, Bryan, Fernan, Ramsey, Winton, Lakes and Project CDA.

The schools have high percentages of students receiving free and reduced lunches: Borah, 82 percent; Bryan, 66 percent; Fernan, 76 percent; Lakes, 70 percent; and Winton, 70 percent. Ducar said nutrition service workers find that many children who are eligible for reduced price meals, don't participate during breakfast when the price is 30 cents. Reduced price lunches are 40 cents.

"It kind of encourages everybody to participate," Ducar said. "By doing that, it will increase, and we'll have more kids eating breakfast. Families only have to worry about 40 cents."

Bullock hopes the backpack program in Coeur d'Alene will provide a model for other local school districts to follow.

"We have way too many kids going hungry in this country. It's ridiculous and unacceptable," Bullock said.

Information: cdabackpackprogram.com