Our first family project was to help the Mid-Ohio Foodbank Backpack program with providing food for kids who may go hungry during spring break.
Many children around central Ohio and across the country depend meals provided by their schools for essential daily nutrition. Unfortunately, on the weekend as well as during school breaks, these children may go hungry. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank aims to fill in the gaps with its Backpack Program.
Several of our friends have been contributing food and monetary donations for years, which is how Mitva found out about the program. She got a list of preferred donations for backpacks from the Foodbank and took the boys shopping with her to collect items.
We filled the bags together and the next day Dev and I dropped off the backpacks at the Foodbank in Grove City. We are also making a financial donation, but we thought it would be important to do something the kids could take part in as well.
Mit's Tips--
- Sam's Club/Costco is a good place for bulk purchases of the nonperishable food.
- Family Dollar Store and other discount type markets are great places to pick up some other items (we included soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes).
- You don't have to provide individual bags, but she happened find some at the dollar store.
The FoodBank takes donations of both food and money. With local schools' Spring Break weeks approaching, the BackPack Program is a great way to help out and teach your kids a little about hunger in America.
These issues will grow more important in the near future with pending cuts to aid associated with free lunch and free breakfast programs for public schools.
