For a lot of kids, food is their most important school supply. When kids have enough food, they do better in school.

At BackPack Weekend Food Program, we ensure that students in Gaston County Schools have food to eat on the weekend during the school year by sending them home on Fridays with backpacks filled with satisfying and nutritional food. There are many ways for you to get involved:

Volunteer

Once a month, volunteers gather at the warehouse to receive monthly food, pull food orders and distribute orders to partners. The warehouse volunteer days start at 9 a.m. and go until the work is done! To learn more about volunteering on one of these days, email [email protected].

#HungerTakeover

Giving back to your community is a great opportunity to transform service to others in a very different way. Partnering with the BWFP offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the operation comes together. Learn more about how your business or organization can get involved and sponsor a #HungerTakeover day to help pack and serve students in the program. For more information, Click Here.

Create your own fundraiser

There are many ways to help the BackPack Weekend Food Program, and fundraising is one of them! Here are a few ideas for you to get started and rally others to support the program.

• Create a Facebook Fundraiser
  Are you interested in serving children in need and making an impact in the community? Organize an online fundraiser. $350 will help us feed an elementary and middle/high school student in the program for an entire school year. For inspiration, check out some of these very successful fundraiser ideas: Chloe & Caitlyn
  • Pledge Your Birthday
    Share your birthday with kids facing food insecurity. Make a difference by asking for hunger-free weekends instead of personal gifts.
• Host a Dinner 
  Invite some of your closest friends and family over for brunch or dinner. Create a theme and let them know in advance you're raising money to support the BackPack Weekend Food Program.

Become a partner

The BackPack Weekend Food Program is a community-supported program. Feeding students on the weekend takes an entire village, and becoming an official partner can be a life-changing opportunity!

Partners of the BackPack Weekend Food Program (BWFP) represent 45 churches, businesses and individual households. Like volunteers, BWFP Partners are vital to the success of the program by providing financial support, and packing and food delivery to schools each week during the school year. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a partner, please contact [email protected].

Support

BackPack Weekend Food Program extends a special thank you to the following donors* and organizations who supported us in Fiscal Year 2019.

*Every effort has been made to present a complete, alphabetical list of BWFP donors that gave support of $5,000 or greater from July 2018 to June 2019. Should you notice an error or omission, please contact Dallas Butler at [email protected].

CaroMont Health Foundation
First Gaston Foundation
Gaston County Family Advisory Board
Mick and Carla McMahan
Publix Super Markets Charities, Inc.
The Stowe Foundation, Inc.
Gaston Community Foundation
Plato “Tete” Pearson