RADFORD – Bobcat Backpacks has received $2000 from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation just in time to help feed local residents.
Bobcat Backpacks is a community-led weekend food program that provides healthy food for qualifying students in Radford City Schools during the school year and summer. The mission of the program is to decrease childhood hunger in Radford City by providing healthy weekend meals to children who would not otherwise have adequate access to food.
Specifically, the program provides access to healthy weekend food for approximately 180 students in Radford City Schools during the school year who qualify for free or reduced lunch. Bobcat Backpacks also supplies food to school based pantries at both Dalton Intermediate and Radford High School serving approximately 50 students every week.
“We cannot thank the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation enough for this gift,” said Jenny Riffe, Bobcat Backpacks Co-Founder. “The support we receive from J.D. Jones, Mike Walters, and the entire staff at our local Radford Food Lion has been incredible. This gift provides us the security to continue feeding hungry children in our community.”
Approximately 50 percent of Radford City students receive breakfast and lunch for free or at a reduced price. We know that many of these students do not get proper nutrition at home on the weekends which leads to many hungry students coming to school Monday morning, who often struggle academically and behaviorally. Bobcat Backpacks has grown from a request from Radford City School guidance counselors and principals to help feed needy children over the weekend when the school support is unavailable. In three years of operation, the number of children Bobcat Backpacks serves has tripled from 60 students a week to 180 receiving food every weekend. The continued generosity of Radford Food Lion and Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation have made the growth of Bobcat Backpacks program possible.
Bobcat Backpacks is modeled after the many backpack programs being implemented across the country in an effort to alleviate childhood hunger and increase the academic potential of at-risk children. Similar programs are currently ongoing within Montgomery County, Pulaski County, and other nearby counties in southwestern Virginia.
Established in 2001, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Food Lion and provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding the hungry in the communities it serves. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $12 million in grants, helping to nourish communities with fresh food for backpack programs, Kids Café’s, and other hunger-relief programs as well as funding for long-term programs to help shorten the lines at food banks. The charitable foundation partners with Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief agency, in addition to local food agencies serving the 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states in which Food Lion operates.
Submitted by Bobcat Backpacks
