Hilary Duff here

Published May 25th, 2008

By Skip Sheffield

Staff Writer

Thursday was Hilary Duff Day for the children of Boca Raton Elementary School.

For grownups it was Blessings in a Backpack Day and the marking of a new era for underprivileged and undernourished children of the area.

Actress-singer Hilary Duff flew in for one day to meet 115 children who since Jan. 1 have participated in the Blessings in a Backpack program at Boca Raton Elementary School. Duff has been a supporter of the food for underprivileged children program for three years.

“When I first heard about the program I thought this is so simple,” said Duff. “We feed people that are hungry. I said let’s do it.”

Pastor Bill Mitchell of Boca Raton Community Church also heard about the program, and with the help of a lot of friends, established a pilot program at Boca Raton Elementary.

“We must give credit to Hilary and to her mother, who is her role model,” said Mitchell, who convinced Helping Hands and Winn-Dixie supermarkets to be co-sponsors. “Before Hilary became famous she was taught she should always give back. This is a perfect example of that.”

Hilary Duff is only 20-years-old (she turns 21 Sept. 28) but she became successful at a very young age. She landed the lead role of Disney Channel television series “Lizzy McGuire” when she was 13. She branched into movies with “Cheaper by the Dozen” and ‘The Lizzie McGuire Movie” in 2003 and “Cinderella Story” in 2004. Most recently, “War Inc” with John Cusack and Sir Ben Kingsley, debuted at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and opened wide this weekend.

Duff’s first studio album, “Metamorphosis,” went triple platinum in 2003. She has subsequently recorded three more albums that have sold more than 13 million copies.

If that weren’t enough, in 2004 she launched a teen fashion line, “Stuff by Hilary Duff” and a fragrance, “With Love… Hilary Duff.”

USA Harvest chairman Stan Curtis, who attended the Boca Raton event, started the Blessings in a Backpack program in 2005. USA Harvest is the largest all-volunteer food distribution program in the USA, serving more than 2 million meals daily to missions, shelters and soup kitchens. Blessings in Backpacks ensures six balanced meals over the weekend for each eligible child.

“I get to travel a lot of places with Hilary,” Curtis told a rapt audience that squealed with delight at the sight of Hilary.

“I love her like a daughter. Her heart will always be bigger than her celebrity.”

The gracious star posed for pictures and even hugged some lucky fans.

Bill Mitchell announced several donations from the podium, including a $40,000 three-year from the Gary Peters family foundation.

“We started this in January and we kept it under the radar as a test program,” said Mitchell. “I attended Boca Raton Elementary as a child. Now 62 percent of its students are considered poor. We would like to institute Blessings in Backpack programs at JC Mitchell and Hammock Pointe, where the percentage of poor children is about 40 percent. When children are well-nourished they are happier and better students. It has already been proven.”