LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Blessings in a Backpack kicked off the school year Friday with the first packing event to help feed Jefferson County Public Schools students.
The organization hosted events at Camp Taylor Elementary School and Frayser Elementary School to help fight hunger for students as they go into the weekend.
Blessings in a Backpack serves more than 5,700 students across 41 JCPS schools. The organization aims to make sure kids aren't hungry over the weekends throughout the school year.
"They depend on the meals they get at school during the week, but, when they go home on the weekend, they may not have anything to eat before they come back to school on Monday," said Kim Holsclaw, managing director of Blessings in a Backpack. "So we bridge that gap."
Thousands of kids benefit from this program in Jefferson County, but there's still a hunger gap to be filled.
"There's almost 80,000 kids that qualify for our program, and we're feeding almost 6,000 every Friday of the school year," Holsclaw said.
There are improvements to the organization this school year. Students at Frayser are used to getting bags with food every other weekend. For the first time this year, they're able to get bags every weekend.
"They look forward to it so much. They get so excited," Frayser Principal Sarah Carmichael-Miller said. "They're always asking Ms. Blakewell 'Is it my week for blessings?' And now we don't have to say 'No, it's not your week for blessings. Your week is next week.'"
The program will now serve 427 students every week at Frayser, which is up from the 204 they served every week last year. Organizers said most JCPS schools can't give every kid food every weekend.
"We rely on the resource counselors, cafeteria staff, teachers to determine which 50 kids out of 200 need our program, and that's a heavy burden," Holsclaw said. "How do you tell a child no?
"For only $175, you can feed a child for an entire school year and you can break that down to monthly donations as well. In the grand scheme of things, it's so affordable to make a huge difference in a child's life."
To donate your time or money to Blessings in a Backpack, click here.
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