HOUSTON – The Houston Food Bank continues to provide food for 13,000 students through a weekly program called Backpack Buddy.
The program was created to help school-age children with meals while not in class. More than 100 schools throughout 11 counties report the students, some as young as pre-kindergarten, would go hungry without the program.
“These children rely on meals during the school year provided by the school districts,” noted Christina Alley. “And when they go home on the weekends, they have little to nothing to eat. So by Monday they are extremely hungry.”
Bags sized to fit inside most backpacks are stuffed with essentials like vegetables, fruits, proteins and grains. Six of the items are canned. It’s enough food “to have six meals over the weekend,” said Alley, who manages the Backpack Buddy program for the Houston Food Bank.
Alley reportedly received numerous phone calls from school counselors who said many of the students who receive donated food were not able to actually eat some of it, because they don’t have the means to purchase a can opener.
“So it’s something that we just take for granted. A lot of us just have the items we need to cook with and open cans already,” said Alley. “Most of these parents are working parents, and they’re struggling as well.”
The Houston Food Bank is shifting some of its solicitations.
“Get 25,000 can openers by February,” Alley said.
As of Dec. 29, the food bank had only about 50 can openers.
Anyone willing to donate a can opener can drop it off at the Houston Food Bank.