Feeding America Backpack Program

 

PLEASE HELP FEED HUNGRY CHILDREN IN SOMERSET COUNTY

All We Ask Is One Item A Week!

 

            How can a child focus on schoolwork when she or he is trying to ignore the persistent pangs of hunger?  Across the country, teachers & school nurses have found that in some instances, Monday morning comes and they are forced to compete against hunger for the attention of their students.  More than 18 million children qualify for free or reduced price meals through the National School Lunch Program, but what happens to these children when they go home over the weekend?

 

            For more than 15 years, the Feeding America BackPack Program has been helping children get the nutritious and easy-to-prepare food they need over the course of the weekend.  Today, bags of food assembled at more than 150 local food banks are distributed at the end of the week to nearly 230,000 children every year.   With your help, we can provide more.

 

            For several years now the Foodbank of  Somerset County has been providing food for breakfast and lunch on weekends for hundreds of hungry children in need. Currently they supply bags of food to 12 elementary schools, feeding 400 children. They are in constant need of food items for the program and would like to expand the program to even more schools. Sadly they estimate that up to 2,000 elementary school children in Somerset County could qualify for the program. Suggested nonperishable food items include:

 

Milk boxes; applesauce cups; Oatmeal packs; Granola bars; Cans of Chef Boyardee Meals, Tuna; Bags of Ramen Noodles; Juice Boxes; Ziploc Bags; etc.

 

            Please consider buying one extra item on this list every week when you shop for food and put it in the collections bins at St Bernard’s Church the Parish Hall. Many items on the list can be purchased for $2.00 or less. If dozens of us make this small contribution we will feed many children. Please Help!