OneCommunity August Spotlight
In Brevard County, Florida, roughly 20,000 children are facing levels of food insecurity. The Children’s Hunger Project seeks to provide local elementary students with the food they need to maintain a healthy standard of living and build a foundation for successful learning. Founded in 2010 by Bob Barnes, the Project began with just one school serving 47 students and is now currently serving over 3,700 students across 50 schools.
Cheryl Cominsky, Executive Director of The Children’s Hunger Project, spearheads the organization’s “Backpack Program” which aims to keep young students fed over the weekend gap in between schooldays. How does it work? About 30-40 volunteers get together over the course of the school week and create packages of food to send to local schools. Once delivered, the packages are distributed to teachers and administration, who at their discretion, locate children with a dire need for extra resources. These staff members place the packages into the students’ backpacks while they are at recess or out of the classroom, in an effort to maintain the child’s privacy. When the child gets on the bus on a Friday afternoon, they are afforded peace of mind knowing that they are taken care of for the weekend.
However, even with The Children’s Hunger Project’s efforts, many young children in the county are still receiving inadequate nutrition. Building awareness for the topic of Childhood Hunger is just the foundation for bringing more resources to kids in need. In order to help in the effort to irradicate this issue, please consider donating to the Project here. If you are interested in volunteering, click here.
