By Cheryl Harris
Alliance Bulldog Backpack Program Co-Ordinator
The Alliance Bulldog Backpack Program is proud to be a recipient of a $3,000 grant from Arby’s Foundation that will help us feed kids across our community. Our program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children from financially struggling homes. The program provides food when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. The participants are identified by the APS school counselors in grades from the Early Childhood classroom to the Alternative School. Each child receives approximately fourteen different food items that are nutritious, kid-friendly, shelf-stable, and ready to eat with little or no cooking. Our aim is to remove barriers that keep children from succeeding and hunger is a barrier. This year we are currently serving 150 – 170 children each week.
The cost of each backpack is approximately $6.00 – $10.50 depending on what is sent. Once a month jars of peanut butter and jelly and a voucher for 1 gallon of fresh milk are included in the bags.
We have 40+ volunteers pack, deliver totes to schools, pick up empty totes and return them, substitute, and call each member of our 4 teams each week. We truly have great volunteers with most of them having been with us since we began in 2010.
Thank you Arby’s for your support to help us positively impact Alliance.