The Food Bank of Delaware’s Backpack Program provides food to at-need children for
weekends and holidays when school is not in session and federal school meal programs
are not available. Backpacks are stocked with kid-friendly, nutritious food including
shelf-stable milk and juice, peanut butter and jelly, granola bars, apple sauce, cereal and
more. They are distributed on Fridays or the last day before a holiday or vacation in a
discreet manner at sites where children normally congregate after school. These sites
include churches, community centers, childcare centers, Kids Café sites, etc. In
2009-2010 the Food Bank of Delaware distributed 28,051 Backpacks through 49 sites.
To learn more about the Backpack Program, please contact Stacy Stevens at
sstevens@fbd.org or (302) 444-8128.

Program Objectives:

• Provide children at-risk of hunger with nutritious, easy-to-prepare food for
  preparation and consumption at home
• Distribute food within safe sites that offer easy access to the children being served
• Involve additional resources and partners in order to assure sustainability of the program

Program Outcomes:

• Reduce health problems in children served by mitigating negative consequences of under nutrition
• Remove the barrier of hunger that contributes to poor school performance
• Empower school personnel to take direct action to benefit hungry children
• Increase awareness among parents and guardians of resources available to low-income families in their community
• Increase awareness of positive nutrition to students’ families  

Menus are developed by the Food Bank’s Community Nutritionist for nutritional value and ease-of-use for children. Food and informational flyers for the backpacks are packed by volunteers, and the Food Bank of Delaware delivers the bags to participating sites weekly. Site staff stores the bags in a secure area until distribution day. Bags are given to children in non-descript backpacks or they can carry their bag in their own backpack. Dependent upon availability, pencils, school supplies and small toys are also distributed in the take-home bags.

It costs approximately $198 to provide one child with weekend and holiday food for a whole school year.  This includes the cost of the backpack, food for each week, supplies, transportation and program administration. To sponsor a child, call Larry Haas, Development Director, at (302) 294-0185 or email him at lhaas@fbd.org.