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Hunger doesn’t take the weekend off

First Gaston Foundation Awards $10,000 to BackPack

First Gaston Foundation of the Gaston Community Foundation announced a grant to the BackPack Weekend Food Program in the amount of $10,000. Funding will support students who do not have a sponsor during the 2021-22 school year. “Many families with children are facing hunger challenges, even more since the pandemic,” said Dallas Butler, Executive Director. […]

Gastonia family contributes $15,000 to BackPack Weekend Food Program

Author: Bill Poteat, The Gaston Gazette Click here for online version As a child growing up in Queens, New York, Kelly Whitesides knew what it meant to worry about where her next meal was coming from. “I know how important this program is,” she said, as she stood with her husband Sam in the BackPack […]

BackPack Weekend Food Program needs extra support this year

Source: The Gaston Gazette, www.gastongazette.com In the late summer of 1999, just before my 44th birthday, I made a very abrupt transition from the news room to the class room. No college course in classroom management. No theories of learning styles. No student teaching. Here’s your room. Here’s your desk. Sink or swim. No floatation device […]

Dining In to Support Students in Need on the Weekend 

Webb Custom Kitchen Hosts Fundraiser Raising $800 for the BackPack Weekend Food Program On Wednesday, February 24, Webb Custom Kitchen hosted a fundraiser for the BackPack Weekend Food Program. Featuring Webb’s South Street Schnitzel as the special, for every special sold, Webb donated $5 to the BWFP to help keep children from going hungry through […]

Khakis Restaurant Hosts Fundraiser for BackPack

Several members of the Cramer Mountain Club came out to the “Bottle Tree Takeover” event at Khakis Restaurant on Tuesday, September 15. Owner, Scott Blackwood, and his restaurant team donated their time to the event, which raised $2,640 that will support students who need weekend meals during the school year. Guests enjoyed a three-course dinner […]

“Kiss the Pig” Raises $19,300

On Saturday, September 12, representatives of the City of Bessemer City Parks and Recreation and Bessemer City BackPack Weekend Food Program, along with eager onlookers, assembled downtown Bessemer City to find out who raised the most money in support of the weekend food program for students in Bessemer City Schools. The losing team had to […]

Publix Charities, Thank You for Helping Us Feed our Community of Students

Publix Super Markets Charities has granted $4,000.00 in funding to support the BackPack Weekend Food Program during the 2020-21 fiscal year. “Publix Charities is a tremendous charity that helps local nonprofit programs like the BackPack Weekend Food Program,” said Dallas Butler, Executive Director. “With this grant money, we will be able to enhance operational efficiency […]

Holy Potato Drop!

On Tuesday, July 8th a tractor trailer backed up to the BackPack Weekend Food Program (BWFP) warehouse loading dock with approximately 40,000 pounds of potatoes which would become food for hundreds of families across Gaston, Lincoln and Cleveland Counties! Rev. Angela Hollar, an elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church […]

Family Advisory Board Awards BackPack $4,000 for 2020-21

No child should have to worry about where their next meal will come from. The BackPack Weekend Food Program has been able to help feed hungry children on the weekend for nearly 10 years thanks to the generosity of supporters and organizations like the Family Advisory Board. “The outpouring of support by Gaston County is […]

CaroMont Health Foundation to Help Support Weekend Food

Amid tremendous uncertainty, we can rest assured knowing that students will continue to have food to eat on the weekend in the upcoming school year. Recently, the CaroMont Health Foundation, awarded the BackPack Weekend Food Program with a $10,000 grant to disperse during the 2020-21 school year on food and operational items. More than 1.6 […]