Second Harvest Food Bank
Backpack Buddies

A Child-to-Child Food Drive Program

In some parts of our service territory, there are children who may not have access to nutritious meals from lunchtime on Friday until they return to school or their summer activity and have breakfast on Monday. Backpack buddies seeks to fill that gap by providing easy-to-prepare, kid-friendly food for the weekend.

Financial contributors to this program provide the funding to purchase some items, including the necessary backpacks, but community support is needed as well. Backpack Buddies provides the opportunity for young people (and adults) to make a difference in the lives of needy children.

When planning your food drive, won’t you request that participants contribute the items specifically necessary for Backpack Buddies? If your main participants are children, they know what they like to fix and eat. Some suggested foods are:

• Canned soups (especially vegetable and chicken noodle)
• Canned and microwaveable “one-dish” dinners like ravioli, stew, and spaghetti with meatballs
• Canned vegetables and fruit (8 ounce cans and cans with pop-tops are preferred)
• Canned tuna, chicken, and ham
• Juice boxes (100% juice, please)

Personal care items like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, shampoo are always welcome.