Free food and snacks for students from the Feeding America BackPack program.
Kids in school can receive free food from the Feeding America BackPack program. Groceries, healthy snacks and other nutritional items are offered to students from lower income families. Feeding America and local partners will ensure the student has free healthy food to bring home over the weekend or holiday breaks, with the items provided confidentially to the kid(s). Find details on the Feeding America BackPack program and how it helps keep students nourished.
Many students from lower income households who receive free or reduced-price meals at school go hungry when those resources aren’t available to them, such as over the weekends or a school break. The goal of the Backpack program is to ensure that the child has something to eat over all those weekends or holidays in question, when they can’t rely on the USDA school lunch program.
Schools provide students a Backpack full of free healthy food
Schools that participate in the Feeding America BackPack program will provide bags of food, places confidentially in a backpack, to children who need help. Thousands of schools across the country participate, and the BackPack program helps students of all ages, ranging from elementary to high school. The service is run in partnership with local pantries as well as national organizations including Feeding America. The Feeding America BackPack program is both a reactive as well as pro-active service.
- Most of the recipients will be identified by caring teachers, social workers or school district staff members. The teacher/school counselor will often select those children and teenagers who are showing signs that they are living in a high-risk situation
- A family or parent can also request assistance as well and sign up on their own for the Feeding America Backpack program.
Regardless of which child is selected and how they enroll, all support provided is free and confidential. The school will see to it that the student is discreetly given a food pack to take home over the weekend. Or they may also be given free groceries for a holiday or for their vacation periods as well. The service is confidential as the fact is no one wants the child to feel from their peers like they are being singled out.
Most Backpack Programs run during the school year, with backpacks full of free groceries and snack items distributed weekly, usually on Fridays. This is done so that the student has food to eat over the weekend. Some Feeding America BackPack programs also expand during longer school breaks, like spring break or summer, depending on the resources and needs in the community.
Goals of the Feeding America BackPack Program
The BackPack Program has several primary objectives. As unfortunately numerous studies show that a hungry child can have difficulty focusing in school. Realistically, how can a student focus on solving a reading or math problem when they are trying to ignore the persistent pangs of hunger. This is especially true for millions of children who currently receive reduced price or free meals through the National School Lunch Program. As the student can get food during the school week, but they then go without over the weekend.
According to the USDA and studies from groups such as Feeding America, millions of children in the United States live in food-insecure households. Hunger doesn’t just impact physical health or the ability to focus/learn, it also affects emotional well-being, behavior, and overall development. Children who go hungry are more likely to suffer from developmental delays, anxiety, poor academic performance, and long-term health issues.
Goals include the following. They include distributing nutritious, wholesome food to students in a caring, discreet manner. Food banks and schools that offer BackPacks distribute free food packs to children from low income families. The free service is looking to help students that are showing signs that they are in a high-risk situation. Meals may be offered for long holiday weekends as well. They will do whatever they can to try to prevent a child from going hungry. Regional Feeding America Food Banks also offer many other services.
A key is long term success, so the program will provide additional resources. The services work with local partners (such as food pantries) in order to assure long term sustainability of the program and the child’s health. Many of the Feeding America BackPack program locations and schools are also located in neighborhoods with limited access to charitable services such as soup kitchens or free food pantries. This is why local charities also offer support, find more information on free emergency food pantries.
Food and healthy snack items that are includes in the Feeding America BackPack
A number of free items can be provided in the Feeding America Back Packs. The items need to be easy to prepare, long lasting and so called shelf stable. Some of what families may find in a backpack includes breakfast bars, cereal, diced apple fruit cups, pudding, sliced pears, beef stew, chili, sunflower seeds, applesauce, and mixed fruit cups. Beverages can also be provided too, and include water and apple, grape or orange juice.
The help from feeding American doesn’t stop there though. In addition to providing nutritious food to students and school children in need, some of the regional BackPack programs provide extra groceries for younger siblings of the student who is enrolled. In addition, some of these programs even operate during the summer months.
Additional assistance available for weekend meals
In addition to providing food packs from Feeding America, many struggling children, their parents and siblings will be referred to local food banks. As local food pantries often give out free food near you as well, in coordination with the Feeding America Backpack program. Non-profits and charitable pantries for additional assistance.
Long term benefits are also offered to families in need. A counselor can also direct lower income families to other resources such as food stamp outreach, summer meals, discounted lunches, and senior citizen nutrition programs.
Apply and more information on the BackPack program
Feeding America is a national non-profit organization that works with food banks across the nation to administer the service to low income students, immigrants, or children living in poverty. Call the hotline at 1-800-910-5524 or 800-771-2303 or locate other hunger relief options from Feeding America. Each local food pantry may tweak the service and/or adapt their own program in order to best meet the needs of their local community. However while adjustments may be made, each is committed to upholding certain outlined guidelines and standards.
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