Holly Houston is an unlikely lawyer. She says that she worked as a waitress for the first several years that she was in business because that is how reluctant she was to go into the field. But she has skills in family, criminal, and business law and is very good at what she does. “But,” says Holly, “practicing law is what I do for my profession . . . working for something I believe in is what I live for.”

What Holly believes in today is a program called Blessings in a Backpack, a homegrown Kentucky idea that came through Kentucky Harvest but which has now just assigned a national board of directors, of which Holly is one. The program’s slogan is “Feeding the Future of America,” and it basically does just that.

Designated schools with kids who qualify for free lunches receive backpacks each Friday stuffed with non-perishable foods for six meals. They then return the backpacks on Monday morning and this goes on for the entire school year.

Here is what their efforts in operation have yielded so far: Test scores have gone up 33 points, attendance increased, tardiness on Monday mornings doesn’t exist, and parents are getting more involved. And this is a program serving Jefferson County and now beyond. Hillary Duff is sponsoring a school in Los Angeles and that school’s program is fully funded by her individually. An entire weekend of meals is only $2.10 per child. That’s certainly something worth believing in.

“I came from an upper-middle-class, sheltered background,” says Holly, “and I thought hunger was something far away. Then I started working in the family federal court system and would see people in need right here in downtown Louisville. Well, how could I not just do something?”

Holly found a vehicle through the Junior League to volunteer and fundraise for programs based on community need, but has become even more involved with Blessings in a Backpack, and is ecstatic that this local program has now been exported to other communities in the country.

“You’re going to have to check back with me,” Holly adds, “because there is big news for this program that I can’t tell you yet.”