Blessings in a Backpack – Open Speaker Event, Hosted by the Rotary Club of Southern Frederick County

Over 4,300 Frederick County children need this program to provide food each weekend for the 40-week school year; over school breaks, and during weather-related closings!

At this speaker event you will learn how to:
• Sponsor Urbana schools/students
• How to arrange a packing event

Please consider bringing with you a much-needed entrée item(s) to donate during this event:
• Chef Boyardee (or generic brand) ready-to-eat pasta bowls (pop-top lids required).
• Ready-to-eat soup (pop-top lids required).
• Meat sticks (i.e., Jack Links, Slim Jim) individually serving only, please.

This is such a tough time for so many Frederick County families. Blessings in a Backpack currently serves over 4,300 students each weekend throughout the area!

About Blessings in a Backpack:
Blessings in a Backpack mobilizes communities, individuals, and resources to provide weekend food for school-aged children across Frederick County who might otherwise go hungry. Our vision is that every school-aged child in Frederick County has the nourishment to learn and grow. As a leader in the movement to end childhood hunger, Blessings strives to ensure children do not go hungry on the weekends by empowering individuals and communities to act. Our mission and vision have never meant more to our community and us than over the past few years.

In Frederick County, almost 15,000 children (32.9%) are at risk of going hungry when school meals are unavailable. That is 1 in 3 children, an astonishing statistic for our community. Blessings currently feeds 4,300+ children in 30 schools every week.

Blessings provide food each weekend, over school breaks, and during weather-related closings for the 40-week school year. Supplemental nutrition relieves food insecurity’s emotional and physical stress, providing a nutritional foundation for children to access the experiences and education available in school.

At such an early age, food insecurity impacts children’s health, social development, cognitive growth, and general well-being. Ensuring consistent access to nutrition allows kids to come to school every Monday focused and ready to learn. Better test scores, expanded reading skills, improved health, and increased attendance are a result of consistent nutrition, such as what Blessings provides. Every Friday, Blessing closes the 65-hour weekend nutrition gap for children fed throughout the week by their school’s free and reduced-price meal program with our nutrient-filled food packs.

About your Rotary Club:
The Rotary Club of Southern Frederick is a service organization dedicated to serving the local community through various initiatives and programs. The club is part of Rotary International, a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

Connecting to make things better — that’s what people of action do. JOIN US for a meeting in Urbana, Maryland! Email us at RotarySouthernFrederick@gmail.com