No Child Goes Hungry (NCGH), a non-profit providing grant money and mentorship to community organizations building hunger advocacy programs that tackle the problem of local food insecurity, is proud to support the efforts of HEART Food Pantry of Reynoldsburg, OH with a $1,000 donation. HEART Food Pantry will use the grant funds to feed children in low-income homes on weekends when the students are without the aid of school-based subsidized meals. The HEART Food Pantry’s BackPack program provides children in need with nutritious food and snacks on Friday afternoons that children can take home in their backpack and rely upon through the weekend.
Currently, we are providing 125 food bags each week to nine schools, and each bag feeds one child for the weekend.” Said Margaret Messick, HEART Food Pantry Operation Coordinator. “The average cost per bag is $2.50, although donations and freebies have kept the cost lower. Our county identified that 48 percent of the children in our schools are food deprived one full day per week. With this generous donation from No Child Goes Hungry, we will be able to increase our school’s weekend lunch program to assist more children and introduce healthier alternatives.”
While free and reduced-cost breakfast and lunch programs provide significant nutritional benefits to students during the school day, many disadvantaged children do not have access to regular meals when school is not in session. The HEART Food Pantry’s BackPack Program helps alleviate child hunger by discreetly providing hungry children with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food on Friday afternoons so that they have food to eat throughout the weekend.
No Child Goes Hungry is excited to offer HEART Food Pantry a grant to help feed kids who struggle every day to have enough to eat,” said No Child Goes Hungry Director Kären Rasmussen. “I’m so happy to be able to help this important charity as they help so many in their community in need. Let’s feed some kids!”
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