Many of the children who receive free or reduced-price lunches at school spend long, hungry hours trying to get through weekends, when meals may not be available.
Each child enrolled in Backpack Buddies, the supplemental weekend feeding program of Second Harvest Community Food Bank, receives a healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch and a healthy snack each weekend during the school year.
Last year, there were over 3,700 children from 18 counties and over 50 schools, Head Start or after-school programs participating in Backpack Buddies.
The Backpack Buddies program needs your help in order to serve healthy foods to our community children every weekend. It costs $150 to support one child for a full year in the Backpack Buddies program, but any size donation is welcome! Fairfax R-3 School has 10 children participating in Backpack Buddies for the 2016-17 school year, but a few more may be added in the upcoming month.
Please donate in one of two ways:
1) Donate by check made payable to Second Harvest. Please write “Fairfax MO Backpack Buddies” on the memo line and mail your donation to: Second Harvest Community Food Bank, 915 Douglas Street, St. Joseph, MO 64505
2) Make check payable to Fairfax UMC and memo it “Backpack Buddies” and drop off at the church or mail to: Fairfax UMC, P.O. Box 318, Fairfax MO 64446. The church will forward the funds to Second Harvest.
(If you make your check out to Second Harvest and can’t find their address, don’t worry. Just give your check to Fairfax UMC and they will send it to them.)
The community has been very supportive of this program since it started being offered in Fairfax.