CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Kids' Backpack Program at the Coastal Bend Food Bank is growing, but as it looks to help more food insecure kids in the area, it's experiencing a higher demand for donations.
The care packages usually include a box of cereal, ramen, macaroni and cheese, a vegetable, a fruit, some peanut butter, said food bank employee Maggie Lumpp.
Typically, local retailers donate to the program from their inventory, but with the growth of the program, the need has increased.
"Usually with the holidays, there's more families getting together and more need for more food," said food bank operations manager James Burnett.
Two years ago, the backpack program started providing one pound and-a-half of food to help provide nutritious meals for kids on weekends. But since then, the program has expanded.
But since then, the program has expanded.
"We looked at the opportunity to build a bigger backpack that would not only feed the child, but the siblings, and even the family on the weekends," said Burnett. "So we ended up with our six-and-a-half pounder that we have now."
Anywhere from 25-50 people volunteer to make the backpacks, and about 1500 are made each week."
They are distributed to students in over 70 schools in the Coastal Bend, and since August, they've provided nearly 40,000 lbs. of food.
"It's a great program, we want to continue growing it," said Burnett.
