Feeding America’s Backpack Program
We’ve all seen those commercials. The ones that say “donate a quarter to help save this starving child”. The sad part is that these commercials are necessary, and sadder still, our own children here in the states need help. According to the USDA, at some point during 2012, one in six Americans won’t know where their next meal is coming from. That’s nearly 49 million people, including more than 17 million children.
But certain programs, such as Feeding America’s Backpack program and Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together program, have taken steps forward in helping starving children.
These backpack programs help children by sending packs of food with them when they go home for the weekend, in case the free or cheapened price meals at school are all that they’re getting. More than 18 million children in the United States qualify for free or reduced price meals through the National School Lunch Program, but that still doesn’t cover them when they’re out of school.
Feeding America’s backpack program sends bags of food to nearly 230,000 children each year, and Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together program has sent 594 million pounds of food to communities since its conception. For more stories about Walmart’s commitment to solving the hunger crisis, check out the Walmart Foundation. These programs are growing more and more each year, but not without the help of wonderful volunteers.
Well maybe you’re a good samaritan, perhaps you’d like to do your part to help; but how would you go about that? Turns out there are several different ways, all of which are helpful.
- The simplest of these is donating. Just find one of the charities you like and donate some money so that they can continue to do their work.
- If you find you have a little extra free time, you could find a local foundation and volunteer your time by packing up the food, delivering it to the kids, or whatever else you can.
- There are plenty of other ways you can help; most of them are detailed here. Just remember: every bit of help counts. And as those commercials say, “you can make a difference”.
Learn more about how you can help at these great resources…
- Feeding America Backpack Program
- Become a Champion to end hunger
- Walmart Foundation Focuses on Hunger
- Walmart Live Better Facebook Page
