For food-insecure children, leaving school on Fridays brings uncertainty about whether they’ll have a meal over the weekend. The PACK feeding program bridges the hunger gap for thousands of children, who sometimes experience anxiety and stress over weekends and holidays because the nutritional support they receive via school breakfast and lunch is no longer guaranteed. Up to seven meals could be missed between Friday and Monday. Hunger has a devastating effect on every area of a child’s life.

PACK provides 5,400 weekend meal bags to students at 42 schools and community centers each week. Each bag is filled with nutritious, easy-to-prepare, shelf-stable food intended to sustain a child when school meals are not available. Handwritten notes, placed in every bag, remind our children that their community loves and cares about them. Improvements in grades, health, behavior, and overall well-being are typically recognized when nutritional needs are met.