What is the Weekend Food Backpack Program?
Weekend backpack food programs help provide nutritious, non-perishable, and easy-to-prepare food to elementary and middle school students to help them avoid hunger over the weekend from food insecurity when they cannot depend on school cafeteria meals.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.”
Through case management in our Community Schools, we are learning that too many of our middle school students lack access to an adequate amount of nutritious food to enable them to sustain a healthy life. United Way NCA’s Weekend Hunger Backpacks program provides meals to help those National Capital Area students get through the weekends and come to class on Monday ready to learn. The food backpack program launched at Francis C. Hammond Middle School.
Francis C. Hammond Middle School has an enrollment of 1,424 students with 83% of those attending class eligible for free or reduced lunches. Hungry children are often unable to fully engage in daily activities such as schoolwork and social interaction with peers. Local case studies from our area have found that too often, low-income students go home over the weekend to households with little or nothing to eat, only to return back to school on Monday hungry and unable to concentrate and unable to control impulses, leading to behavioral issues. The food backpack program helps provide relief to food insecurity by fighting hunger in schools.
Students facing food insecurity are twice as likely to be placed in special education and kept back a year in school. Additionally, the stress that is put on parents who are facing food insecurity has been proven to lead to grave behavioral and emotional issues that can impair mental health and make it difficult for students to adjust to social situations. Without adequate nutrition, children are easily distracted and unable to focus on learning in school.
Initiatives like the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program help students show up for school on Monday fed and ready to learn. Food backpacks filled with life-saving and healthy meal options prepare students for the school week just as pens and pencils do in the classroom.
Mission
The mission of the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program is to expand free and healthy food options to children experiencing food insecurity in our region so that they are able to attend school prepared and ready to learn.
We accomplish this mission by:
- Securing cost-effective solutions to providing weekend meals to students in need.
- Providing a safe environment for students in need of nutritional support to access food.
The ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population represents nearly 500,000 low- and moderate-income households in our region that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level but less than the basic cost of living for the county/state in which they live. United Way NCA’s ALICE Lives Here initiative aims to reduce disparities in the areas of health, education and economic opportunity and improve outcomes for individuals and families in the National Capital Area.
The mission of the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program is to expand free and healthy food options to children experiencing food insecurity in our region so that they are able to attend school prepared and ready to learn.
How To Help
Volunteer to pack weekend food backpacks – Volunteers help to prepare for food distributions. This includes setting up tables, unloading boxes of food from trucks and packing the weekend meals for students.
For more information on getting involved or sponsoring the Weekend Food Back Program, please contact Stephanie Crane.
*To address food insecurity in public schools across the region, United Way of the National Capital Area is in the process of supporting weekend food backpacks this school year. In past years this program was supplemented by United Way NCA through Fun, Fly, Fit grants to schools. Stay tuned for updates!
Weekend Backpack Program 2024
WeekEND Hunger Backpack will take place on January 8th, 9th, and 10th.
Click here for volunteer opportunities. For more information contact us at volunteer@uwnca.org.
For more information on partnering with us for this event, please contact CSR@uwnca.org.
Sponsors
The Weekend Backpack Program is made possible with the generous support of our sponsors. If you are a corporation interested in sponsoring this event or supporting the initiative monetarily, contact us at CSR@uwnca.org.
What is the Weekend Food Backpack Program?
Weekend backpack food programs help provide nutritious, non-perishable, and easy-to-prepare food to elementary and middle school students to help them avoid hunger over the weekend from food insecurity when they cannot depend on school cafeteria meals.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.”
Through case management in our Community Schools, we are learning that too many of our middle school students lack access to an adequate amount of nutritious food to enable them to sustain a healthy life. United Way NCA’s Weekend Hunger Backpacks program provides meals to help those National Capital Area students get through the weekends and come to class on Monday ready to learn. The food backpack program launched at Francis C. Hammond Middle School.
Francis C. Hammond Middle School has an enrollment of 1,424 students with 83% of those attending class eligible for free or reduced lunches. Hungry children are often unable to fully engage in daily activities such as schoolwork and social interaction with peers. Local case studies from our area have found that too often, low-income students go home over the weekend to households with little or nothing to eat, only to return back to school on Monday hungry and unable to concentrate and unable to control impulses, leading to behavioral issues. The food backpack program helps provide relief to food insecurity by fighting hunger in schools.
Students facing food insecurity are twice as likely to be placed in special education and kept back a year in school. Additionally, the stress that is put on parents who are facing food insecurity has been proven to lead to grave behavioral and emotional issues that can impair mental health and make it difficult for students to adjust to social situations. Without adequate nutrition, children are easily distracted and unable to focus on learning in school.
Initiatives like the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program help students show up for school on Monday fed and ready to learn. Food backpacks filled with life-saving and healthy meal options prepare students for the school week just as pens and pencils do in the classroom.
The ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population represents nearly 500,000 low- and moderate-income households in our region that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level but less than the basic cost of living for the county/state in which they live. United Way NCA’s ALICE Lives Here initiative aims to reduce disparities in the areas of health, education and economic opportunity and improve outcomes for individuals and families in the National Capital Area.
The mission of the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program is to expand free and healthy food options to children experiencing food insecurity in our region so that they are able to attend school prepared and ready to learn.
How To Help
Volunteer to pack weekend food backpacks – Volunteers help to prepare for food distributions. This includes setting up tables, unloading boxes of food from trucks and packing the weekend meals for students.
For more information on getting involved or sponsoring the Weekend Food Back Program, please contact Stephanie Crane.
*To address food insecurity in public schools across the region, United Way of the National Capital Area is in the process of supporting weekend food backpacks this school year. In past years this program was supplemented by United Way NCA through Fun, Fly, Fit grants to schools. Stay tuned for updates!
For more information on partnering with us for this event, please contact CSR@uwnca.org.
