Volunteers create backpack meals program to reach students at risk of weekend hunger^*

ABSTRACT

Children from low-resource families are often food insecure and experience hunger, which increases their risk for developmental delays, health complications, and poor academic performance. The Backpack Meals Program, administered through a local church in collaboration with community partners, is a unique approach to serving students from families with limited access to food and at risk for hunger during the weekend. This program has promise for replication in communities with children of low-resource families who are food insecure.

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecurity
• nutrition
• school-based interventions
• volunteer engagement

Funding

David Buys is supported by the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station and the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Notes

* TheFIELD NOTES column presents best practices in community-based projects and programs that address hunger and environmental nutrition issues. The Journal will highlight the work of an organization or program that exemplifies the goals of the Journal to examine hunger and the interconnectedness among individual, political, and institutional factors that govern how people produce, procure, and consume food and the implications on nutrition and health. Readers are encouraged to submit original contributions on programs and/or project “snapshots” that give a program or project’s mission, objectives, implementation process, outcomes, evaluation and contact information. Please forward submissions for Field Notes to the Journal Editor [email protected]. Limit to 300-700 words.

Additional information

Funding

David Buys is supported by the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station and the Mississippi State University Extension Service.