Blessings In a Backpack is a “neighbor-helping-neighbor” program that is designed to help meet the nutritional needs of children and families. 62% of children in America are on free or reduced meals at their schools. Blessings in a Backpack is designed to feed these kids on the weekends by sending them home on Fridays with backpacks filled with staples that require little to no preparation. $80 feeds one child for a school year.
Blessings in a Backpack is a results-oriented program. This unique program is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program, and may not have any or enough food on the weekends. Better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health and increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this program.
$80 feeds a child in the program for an entire school year. Following a donation, a school is chosen and a local grocer partners with the program to provide food for meals in the backpacks. Every Friday, students receive their backpacks with staples that require little to no preparation. They return with their backpacks on Monday ready to learn.
The backpacks include ready-to-eat food items such as fruit roll ups, juice boxes, instant noodles, peanut butter, mac & cheese, cereal, pop tarts, etc. Blessings in a Backpack does its best to make sure the food is kid-friendly, meaning it’s lightweight, healthy, non-perishable and easy-to-prepare. Students who participate in the Blessings in a Backpack program show marked improvement in school attendance, test scores, behavior, and health. Food is an essential building block, and in this case truly is a blessing, especially to a hungry child!
Blessings in a Backpack started with just one school in 2005 and now serves almost 27,000 students in 157 schools, spread throughout 27 U.S. states and two countries - Canada and Columbia. Click here to find a Blessings in a Backpack program in your area. The program is a hybrid of private sector funding and public partnership carried out in public schools. We are feeding the future of America, one school at a time.
Become a weekday or weekend warrior in the battle against hunger.
Get Involved:
Donate to Blessings in a Backpack.
Adopt a school. Adopting a school close to your community is fairly simple. The most important requirement is that you are a parent, teacher, administrator or community member that recognizes how important it is that all of our neighbors’ children have the same opportunities for daily nutrition, which positively impacts educational success!
Volunteer opportunities with Blessings in a Backpack.
Other ways to get involved.
Find One Way Every Day on Facebook.
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Source: http://blessingsinabackpack.org/
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