Lowcountry Food Bank receives grant from Carnival Foundation
June 17, 2019
Grant supports BackPack Buddies program to fight childhood hunger
The Lowcountry Food Bank (LCFB) announced today that it has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Carnival Foundation to help fight childhood hunger in Charleston county.
The grant helps fund the BackPack Buddies program, a weekend hunger-relief program that ensures children have adequate amounts of healthy food to eat at home on the weekends, enabling them to succeed in school and in life.
The BackPack Buddies program, initiated in 2006, helps to alleviate weekend hunger among food-insecure public schoolchildren by distributing packs of nutritious and kid-friendly food each Friday during the school year (38 weeks total). The LCFB works closely with its 20 partner schools in Charleston County to identify the most chronically food-insecure children. A typical pack contains approximately four pounds of easy-to-open foods balanced across all of the food groups.
During the 2019-2020 school year, more than 1,400 children at risk of hunger in Charleston county schools will be enrolled in Back Pack Buddies. The goal of the program is to distribute more than 53,000 packs of weekend food during the school year and distribute more than 159,000 pounds of food to the students enrolled in the program.
“We are so pleased that the Carnival Foundation is supporting another school year of BackPack Buddies to help fight childhood hunger in Charleston County,” said Pat Walker, Lowcountry Food Bank President and CEO. “Their generous commitment ensures that food-insecure children have access to nutritious food over the weekends while school is in session.”
About the Lowcountry Food Bank: Feed. Advocate. Empower.
The Lowcountry Food Bank serves the 10 coastal counties of South Carolina and distributed more than 30.5 million pounds of food in 2018. The Lowcountry Food Bank helps fight hunger by distributing food to nearly 300 partner agencies including soup kitchens, homeless shelters and emergency food pantries. The Lowcountry Food Bank advocates on behalf of those who experience hunger and helps empower people to make healthy and nutritious food choices. For more information go to the Lowcountry Food Bank website and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About Carnival Foundation
Carnival Foundation is dedicated to creating positive change through empowering youth, enhancing education and strengthening families in the communities where Carnival Corporation employees live and work, and where Carnival brands have a presence. Through monetary and in-kind donations, innovative philanthropic programs, employee fundraisers and hands-on volunteer initiatives, the foundation supports hundreds of organizations annually with primary funding focused in the areas of the arts, human needs, education and health. Its website is www.carnivalfoundation.com.
