Blessing in a Backpack
One in five kids in the United States doesn’t have access to healthy, affordable food on the weekends. They rely on meals at school through the Free and Affordable Lunch program, but from Friday evening through Monday morning they don’t have enough to eat.
That means 13 million kids in our area are at risk of suffering the consequences of hunger—physical health issues, poor academic performance, shorter attention span, and more.
That’s where Blessings in a Backpack comes in.
What is Blessings in a Backpack?
Blessings in a Backpack provides food for elementary school-aged kids to take home on the weekends. Volunteers around the country pack the bags with nutritious food and schools give them to kids who are at risk of food insecurity.
The organization serves over 87,000 children throughout 45 states. As a result of their efforts, Blessing has helped kids so much:
- 59% find it easier to learn at school
- 78% feel cared for by their community
- 71% feel that they are helping their family
- 60% say they get in trouble less
It costs as little as $100 to feed one child on the weekends for a full school year—if you’d like to get involved, you can learn how you can help on their website.
Working with Josh Harrison and Cam Heyward
We were excited to have two opportunities to join forces with local chapters of Blessings in a Backpack.
The first was with baseball player Josh Harrison and Dreambuilders and the second was with football player Cam Heyward and his foundation, The Heyward House. Each time, we adopted a local school and provided food for an entire school year.
what are the prizes
There will be five winners:
- Our law firm will donate $1,000 to each winner’s school on their behalf.
- In addition, the grand prize winner will receive a $250 Visa gift card and the remaining winners will each receive a $100 Visa gift card.
- All winners will have their artwork featured on a billboard in their community.
Who is Eligible?
Elementary school students in grades K – 5 in Western and Central PA are eligible to enter.
How You Can Help
There are always more schools and more kids who need help. Blessings in a Backpack has opportunities to volunteer and donate. They can help you start your own program. Make sure to check out their website if you would like to become apart of the Blessings in a Backpack team. Every dollar counts and goes a long way toward making sure no child spends their weekends hungry.