About the Program
The mission of the BackPack Program is to help alleviate child hunger in our eight counties by providing hungry children with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. The program provides backpacks filled with food that is child friendly, nonperishable, and easily-consumed.
The school staff is given a checklist and then they make referrals accordingly. Backpack foods are discreetly distribute to each eligible student by school personnel in one of our 46 schools that qualify. An average of 1,600+ children receive this service on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation.
Your Help is Needed
At the present time, there are no federal child nutrition programs to offset costs for BackPack Food Programs. Therefore, we rely on friends, churches, civic organizations, and companies that are willing to support a worthwhile program.
Why the Backpack Program?
- Under-nutrition, along with environmental factors associated with poverty, can permanently damage physical growth, brain development, and cognitive functioning.
- The longer a child’s nutritional, emotional and education needs go unmet, the greater the likelihood of cognitive impairments.
- Supplemental feeding programs can help offset threats posed to the child’s capacity to learn and perform in school which result from inadequate nutritional intake.
- Once under-nutrition occurs, its long-term effects may be reduced or eliminate by a combination of adequate food intake and environmental (home, school) support.
Interested in learning more about the Backpack Program? Send us an email!
