On Friday afternoons, many school children spend their time making plans for what they are going to do over the weekend. Many other students face a different challenge. They are worried about what they are going to eat over the weekend. Town Pump Charitable Foundation believes that no child should have to worry about having food to eat.
In Montana, 68,469 school children receive free meals, and 6,252 receive reduced price meals. Fifty percent of Montana school children qualify for these benefits. But what do they do on Saturday and Sunday when they do not receive meals at school?
The consequences of childhood hunger are more than a growling stomach. Poor nutrition can result in a weaker immune system, increased hospitalization, lower IQ, shorter attention spans and lower academic achievement.
At Town Pump, the staff are committed to helping make sure that Montana children get nutritional meals over the weekend.
This is the eighth year the Town Pump Charitable Foundation has offered grants to schools, food banks and civic organizations to provide weekend meals to school students through their Meals for Backpacks program.
The Meals for Backpacks program provides child-friendly, non-perishable food that can be easily prepared at home. Backpack bags are discreetly distributed to children before weekends or holidays to ensure they will have enough to eat.
While “backpack meals” can vary from community to community, a “backpack” will include enough food to replace the meals a child would receive in school (e.g., two breakfast options, two lunch options, two snack items, fresh or canned fruit, shelf-stable milk and juice).
The need for these programs continues to grow. This year, 12 new communities were awarded “Meals for Backpacks” grants for a statewide total of 88 communities. Grants totaling $725,000 were awarded including a $100,000 grant to the Montana Food Bank Network to support the communities they assist in funding. Since 2016, the Town Pump Charitable Foundation has awarded over $4.3 million in funding for backpack programs.
88 communities have been impacted, including:
- Anaconda
- Ashland
- Baker
- Belt
- Bigfork
- Billings
- Bozeman
- Broadview
- Butte
- Cascade
- Chinook
- Choteau
- Colstrip
- Columbia Falls
- Columbus
- Conrad
- Corvallis
- Cut Bank
- Deer Lodge
- Dillon
- Divide
- Ekalaka
- Eureka
- Florence
- Forsyth
- Fort Benton
- Fromberg
- Glasgow
- Glendive
- Great Falls
- Hamilton
- Hardin
- Harlowton
- Havre
- Heart Butte
- Helena
- Kalispell
- Lakeside
- Laurel
- Lavina
- Lewistown
- Libby
- Livingston
- Lockwood
- Miles City
- Missoula
- Moore
- Pablo
- Philipsburg
- Polson
- Red Lodge
- Ronan
- Sand Coulee
- Seeley Lake
- Shelby
- Shepherd
- Sidney
- St. Regis
- Stevensville
- Superior
- Thompson Falls/Plains
- Townsend
- Trego
- Troy
- Victor
- Westby
- Whitefish
- Wibaux
- Wolf Point
- Statewide
To learn more about the Meals for Backpacks program, visit townpumpfoundation.com/backpacks.
