The Problem: Children go hungry over the weekend

An estimated 1 in 5 children in the United States lives in a food insecure household – meaning that 20% of our students are likely to go hungry for some part of the year.

After the 2011 tornado, hunger and poverty spiked in the Joplin area. Currently, 61% of Joplin, Missouri students qualify for free or reduced lunches, and over 300 K – 5 students live in food-insecure homes. Children receive two meals a day during school, but may go home hungry over the weekend and struggle to concentrate when they return to school on Monday.

The Solution: Send them home with a full backpack

The Joplin Schools Foundation has partnered with Bright Futures to provide a backpack full of nutritious food for hungry students every week as they head home for the weekend. $5 will fill one backpack with food, and $20 will feed a child for a month of weekends. You can donate to this program by visiting JoplinSchools.org.

Each school recruits volunteers to prepare snack packs every Friday afternoon. Students return the empty backpacks on Monday and they are reused for the following week.

Recently, General Mills partnered with the Joplin Schools Foundation to deliver an ongoing grant to support this program. So far, they have funded over 3,500 snack packs.

Get Involved:

• Read More about this idea:
  • Joplin Schools Foundation Page – Snack Pack Program
  • Springfield News Leader 5 Oct 2014 – General Mills Foundation gives ongoing support for Snack Pack Program
• Fund a hungry student – give $5 to the Snack Pack Program
• Inform your local school administrators of the likelihood that some children will go hungry over the weekend.