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BackPack

Program Overview

A hungry child is not going to learn and thrive. Knowing this to be the case, The Greater Boston Food Bank currently partners with the Lawrence and Lynn School Systems to provide food in select schools for children at-risk of going hungry over a weekend or holiday. Children in these schools are chosen because there is a need demonstrated by rates of free/reduced lunch program participation, or they are located in neighborhoods with limited access to charitable services such as food pantries or soup kitchens, or there is such minimal adult/parental involvement that these services are not made available. It is clear that providing schoolchildren who are at risk of hunger with backpacks filled with nutritious food plays an important role in reducing childhood hunger.

The Greater Boston Food Bank BackPack program works with the schools to distribute food packs to children who are identified by caring teachers and staff members as showing signs that he or she is living in a high-risk situation. These students are discreetly given a food pack to take home.

To see a video portrayal of our BackPack Program, click here.

BackPack Program Objectives

• To provide children at-risk of hunger with nutritious, easy-to-prepare food for preparation and consumption at their place of residence
• To distribute nutritious, wholesome food in a caring, discreet manner
• To involve additional resources and partners in order to assure sustainability of the program

Fast Facts

• The BackPack Program concept was developed at the Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock, after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomachaches and dizziness. The local food bank began to provide the school children with groceries in non-descript BackPacks to carry home.
• The BackPack Program became a pilot program in 1995. The National Council of Feeding America approved the BackPack Program as an official national program of the Network in July 2006.
• There are more than 120 Feeding America members operating more than 1,600 BackPack Programs in 41 states and Washington, D.C, serving more than 70,000 children each year.

(Source: www.feedingamerica.org)

Examples of the kind of foods distributed include:

For additional information, please contact:

Paul Colligan, Director of Programs

The Greater Boston Food Bank

70 South Bay Avenue

Boston, MA 02118

617-427-5200

pcolligan@gbfb.org