Weekends without hunger.

09/10/2018

Did you know there are thousands of kids in the greater Richmond area that leave school on Fridays with no guarantee of a meal over the weekend? FeedMore’s BackPack program was created specifically to help combat this problem.

Every Thursday during the school year, FeedMore distributes approximately 2,000 BackPacks filled with kid-friendly, nonperishable and nutritious meals, to schools throughout our service area. On Fridays, those bags are given to children that don’t have enough to eat over the weekend. It’s a simple idea that has helped thousands of kids enjoy their weekends without worrying where their next meal will come from.

How do we do it?

Our amazing volunteers of course! Each week we provide two packing sessions for groups of volunteers to participate in. Each group completes about 1,000 BackPacks by working in an assembly line to fill them with all of the healthy and delicious food each child will receive. From cereal to canned fruit, every item that’s packed can easily be opened and prepared by a child.

Once all of the bags have been filled for the week, volunteer drivers arrive on Thursdays to distribute them out to schools across Richmond and the Tri-cities. Those backpacks are then handed out by the school to the kids on Fridays so they have access to healthy meals over the weekend and come back to school on Monday ready to learn.

How can you help?

Calling all drivers! We are in need of volunteer Backpack delivery drivers for the 2018-2019 school year and would love your help. If you’re interested in volunteering or would like to learn more information about other FeedMore programs and volunteer opportunities, check out our Volunteer page and fill out a volunteer application.