The Weekend Hunger Backpack Program addresses local food insecurity among children in a unique way inside the classroom. Each week, students discreetly receive a bag filled with nutritious kid-friendly food to take home. This ensures that they have meals and snacks to eat over the weekend, when school lunches
are unavailable. 

 

With help from the school district staff, children in need are identified by their participation in the federal school meal assistance program. Each week, Catholic Charities St. Augustine staff organizes volunteers to help stuff recyclable bags with uniformed shelf-stable and nutritious food and other items. We then deliver these bags to the schools every Thursday so that the school can in turn distribute them before the weekend. Extra food is included on longer breaks such as three-day weekends, holidays and spring break.

 

We gladly accept donations of non-perishable food items from the community. The following are some of our most urgently needed items:

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• Vienna sausage (Pop top cans)

• Pudding (Ready to eat) 

• Juice boxes

• Applesauce (Single serving) 

• Fruit cup (Single serving) 

• Cereal bowls

• Granola bars (No nuts) 

• Protein bars (No nuts) 

• Oatmeal (Single-serving packets)

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Please no glass, open or damaged containers.