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Alexandria food bank fills weekend backpacks for children in need

Freshmen from Louisiana College volunteer at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.
Food Bank of Central Louisiana
Freshmen from Louisiana College volunteer at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.

The Food Bank of Central Louisiana is stuffing 1,200 backpacks with food as it launches its school backpack program next week. The Food Bank has partnered with 26 elementary schools in seven central Louisiana parishes. On Fridays, children in the program receive a backpack full of food that will help keep them from going hungry over the weekend. The Food Bank’s executive director Jayne Wright-Valez said she works with school principals to identify the children in need.

Freshmen from Louisiana College volunteer at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.
Credit Food Bank of Central Louisiana
Freshmen from Louisiana College volunteer at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana.

“We ask them to identify children who only may be eating at school. On Fridays, they take a backpack full of food home for the weekend, and it’s food that children can prepare regardless of whether there’s an adult in the home," Wright-Valez said.

The Food Bank of Central Louisiana serves 22,000 people, but Wright-Valez said, the need is almost three times that number, based on government figures on food insecurity in central Louisiana. While the backpack program is growing, Wright-Valez believes there are many more children who could be helped by it, especially in Avoyelles Parish.

"We’ve seen some incredible need in Avoyelles Parish. So, we’re really trying to get some of the schools there to participate in the program because some of those schools have free and reduced lunch participation rates at almost at 100 percent. We know there are children there that need our help," Wright-Valez said.

September is Hunger Action Month across the country. Wright-Valez has created a calendar on the Food Bank’s Web site that gives 30 ways families can help fight hunger in their communities. One way, she says, is by helping stuff backpacks on Saturdays or in the evenings.

Copyright 2021 Red River Radio. To see more, visit Red River Radio.

Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' experience to Red River Radio having started out as a radio news reporter and moving into television journalism as a newsmagazine producer / host, talk-show moderator, programming director and managing producer and news director / anchor for commercial, public broadcasting and educational television. He has more recently worked in advertising, marketing and public relations as a writer, video producer and media consultant. In pursuit of higher learning, Chuck studied Mass Communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.

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