Brenden's Friday Backpacks

"We feed hungry kids over the weekend"

Hunger can affect anyone, and hundreds of children in our area suffer every day. These can be children in your neighborhood, children that your child sits next to everyday at school or children your child plays with at the park. These children don't look forward to the weekends and long school breaks, because often they know that they may not have much to eat until they go back to school. School food programs only provide free breakfast and lunch during the week, but many times these families struggle to put food on the table over the weekend.

Brenden's Friday Backpacks began in 2011 with four children in a single school and has grown to a program that currently feeds more than 1,200 children in 54 schools throughout Jefferson County on a weekly basis during the school year. Every Friday, each child takes home a bag of single-serve, non-perishable, kid-friendly foods that can be easily prepared and last until the child returns to school the next week. The program is run entirely by volunteers and takes anonymous referrals directly from local schools.

How can you help? We welcome donations of the following items:

• Kid-friendly canned soup and pasta
• Pudding or fruit cups
• Plastic jars of peanut butter
• Individual snacks (cookies, chips, trail mix, etc.)
• Granola bars
• Single-serve cereal

Please consider holding a food drive, donation collection or making Brenden's Friday Backpacks your 'charity of choice' for financial donations. We are a 501(c)(3) charity, and your donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

We appreciate your generous support and look forward to continuing to help feed hungry kids in our own backyard.

Like us on Facebook, go to our website at www.brendensfridaybackpacks.org.