KFC, Blessings in a Backpack fill 1,500 bags with meals for JCPS students facing food insecurity

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Volunteers packed more than 1,000 bags of food for Jefferson County Public Schools' students on Tuesday.

KFC partnered with Blessings in a Backpack to help feed underserved Louisville kids.

The company is a sponsor of the backpack program at J.B. Atkinson Elementary School in the city's Portland neighborhood.

Each week, volunteers help send hundreds of students home with a bag of meals for the weekend in their backpacks.

Volunteers took things a step further Tuesday, packing 1,500 food bags to send to three local schools.

"These meals will help bridge fall break for a lot of these students who don't know where their next meal comes from when they leave the school," said Lori Eberenz, with KFC Public Affairs.

Blessings in a Backpack data shows there are 64,000 kids living in Jefferson County who are food insecure. That means they don't have regular access to the healthy meals they need.