BackPack Program

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New Hampshire Food Bank Pilot BackPack Programs are Successful

Thanks in part to a $35,000 grant from Wal-Mart and America ’s Second Harvest, in November 2006 the New Hampshire Food Bank introduced two BackPack Programs in Danbury and Berlin , New Hampshire . The programs, at Tri-County Head Start of Berlin and Danbury Community Center, opened to rave reviews by parents, child-care providers, and more importantly, the children.

Volunteers from Tri-County Head Start in Berlin, NH on the November 2006 Kick-off of the BackPack Program.

What is the BackPack Program?

The BackPack Program allows children to bring home nutritious food when other resources are not available, such as on the weekends or during school vacations. BackPacks are filled by childcare providers and parent volunteers with child-friendly, non-perishable, and vitamin fortified food, as well as educational activities. The backpacks are then discreetly distributed to the at-risk children of the childcare facility.

The Backpack program concept originated in several places one being the Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock where a school nurse at an inner-city school asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomach aches and dizziness. In response, the food bank began providing the school children groceries in non-descript backpacks to carry home, freeing them of the stigma of poverty that many low-income children face among their peers.

The BackPack Program is a national program supported by America ’s Second Harvest, the Nation’s Food Bank Network. There are over 110 BackPack Programs operating in 39 states and Washington D.C. The BackPack Program is the fastest growing program within the America ’s Second Harvest Network.

The BackPack Program truly is a collaborative effort, with collaboration from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Terri Towle, Program Coordinator for the UCLA School Management Program Northeast, and Operation Frontline coordinator, Becca Story providing nutrtional materials.

How many children in New Hampshire are served?

Between the two programs 191 children are served by the BackPack Program. In addition to providing nutritious food to school children in need, the backpacks also provide extra food for younger siblings at home. 98 backpacks are distributed each Friday, approximately three times a month.

Backpacks include nutritious foods and educational activities based on a common theme, fun for children and their parents.

Client Testimonials

Central to the launch of the BackPack Programs, Wal-Mart Good Works Coordinator, Carolyn Geratin, Tri-County Headstart Family Support Coordinator, Rhoda Delafontaine, and NH Food Bank Agency Relations Coordinator, Connie Miville.

"I like the back program because it is a fun way to spend time with my kids. The activities and making the meals together, we enjoy it very much, and the extra food is always helpful.”

"The BackPack Program is the best program ever to come to the head start. It helps many families in need, and helps me out a lot.”

"These backpacks mean a lot to us. For my son, it’s like a gift. Being a single mom on an extremely tight budget the food really helps.”

BackPack Program made possible by:

For more information on the BackPack Programs or to support the BackPack Program in New Hampshire please email: info@nhfoodbank.org.

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