Power Pack
Hunger doesn’t strike only on weekdays. Many low-income children who are eligible for breakfast and lunch programs during the school day are significantly at risk for hunger on weekends and holidays when they cannot access nutritious food. What’s the answer? For the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, it came in the form of the Power Pack program.
This weekly feeding program currently provides 120 children who attend two Kids Cafe sites with the opportunity to fill a backpack with healthy snacks to take home on weekends or over holiday periods. Participants in the Power Pack program use their backpack during the week to carry school supplies. At week’s end, during their stay at the Kids Café, the kids spend three minutes, under adult supervision, selecting food and snack items from the pantry to take home in their backpack. Nutritional guidelines, posters and educational materials are always available to help the children make informed choices about the food they’ll take home. In some cases, the Power Pack program offers pre-packed backpacks, particularly for Kids Cafe sites that don’t have space to operate a pantry.
The Power Pack program is made possible by generous donors that contribute money, backpacks, food, and even personal care products, for the children.
Contact Karen Woodings at (717) 564-1700 ext. 3032 or kwoodings@centralpafoodbank.org or Jorja Barton at (717) 564-1700 ext. 3026 or jbarton@centralpafoodbank.org for more information about the Power Pack program.