Hunger Facts: did you know?

Programs:
BackPack Program



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BackPack Program

61 percent of Austin ISD students qualify for free or reduced lunch. That's almost 50,000 children. Their families rely on those resources to keep their children nourished and healthy during the week.


Watch the News 8 Austin Video about the BackPack Program.

Childhood Hunger Facts

One in four children in Texas is hungry.1

 

41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.2

 

While the child poverty rate in Texas is 23.2%, for the CAFB service area, 35% of the household members receiving food are children. 2

 

In Travis County, 18% of families with children under the age of five had an income below the poverty level. 46% of households headed by unmarried women with children under five were living below poverty. 3

 

Out of 166,661 school-age children in

Central Texas, more than 26,000 were living below the federal poverty line in 2003. 4

 

1 cppp.org: The State of Texas Children Report, 2005

2 Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas

Report, in association with America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network

3 2005 American Community Survey

4 2003 U.S. Census Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates

The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. In September 2007, the program launched with more than 330 children enrolled in Oak Springs Elementary School.

The Food Bank conducted a successful pilot program in the summer of 2006 at the Boys & Girls Clubs (East) and J.J. Pickle Elementary in which 300 students were served each week.

About the BackPack Program:

  • Backpacks are filled with enough food for six meals and two snacks.
  • Food is child-friendly, nonperishable, easily consumed and vitamin fortified.
  • Backpacks are distributed to children on Fridays or the last day before holiday vacations.

What's in a Backpack?
Breakfast comes complete with cereal, shelf-stable milk, fruit and 100% real fruit juice. Lunch and dinner consists of an entrée that includes pasta, a protein, fruit, 100% real fruit juice and a granola or cereal bar. The snacks are great-tasting and healthy, consisting of a granola bar and juice. Once each month, the backpack will include a jar of peanut butter to supplement their food needs. Each meal is a unique combination of kid-friendly and nutritious foods, all in pull-tab containers and easy enough for them to prepare by themselves. No refrigeration is needed, and the food may be eaten directly from the containers if no microwave is available.

The BackPack Concept
The BackPack Program concept was developed at the Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomach aches and dizziness. The local food bank began to provide the school children with groceries in nondescript backpacks to carry home.

 

Volunteers needed at Oak Springs Elementary BackPack Program.  Learn more. 

 

Thank You BackPack Program Sponsors:

Charles H. Phipps Family Foundation
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Lance Armstrong Foundation
Reeves and Brightwell, LLP
Margaret Mann Wilson Fund of the North Texas Community Foundation
National Instruments
Stanford Group Company
America’s Second Harvest - The Nation’s Food Bank Network & Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Interested in sponsoring the BackPack Program?  Get started by filling out a sponsorship request form.

 

 

 

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