To address a critical need facing children in the Sheridan Schools, Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank is announcing it will start providing weekend food backsacks for Sheridan Elementary in the spring semester of 2019. HCH is doing this in conjunction with its Sheridan partner, Sheridan Youth Assistance.
“The Youth Assistance program does so much to help the children and their families and when this need was brought to us, we knew where we needed to direct our resources,” said Director for Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank Anita Hagen.
The HCH weekend backsack program assistance across Hamilton County started in 2016 and has grown each year with assistance provided in each public school.
“The programs we partner with do a phenomenal job of addressing each school’s individual needs,” said Hagen. HCH support provided in 2018 included Fueled for School – Noblesville, Carmel Schools including the High School, Indy Snack Attack – HSE, Westfield and Hamilton Heights.
An average weekend food backsack cost is $5 per pack. This pack will provide nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack items for two days. The growing community means there are still 10 percent of Hamilton County residents who are hungry or food insecure. For 26,760 individuals in Hamilton County, this is not just a statistic but a daily struggle. A total of 10,119 children in the county’s six public school systems qualify for free and reduced lunches. Meals are provided during the school days, but the weekends and summer break present painful choices and challenges for families.
To address this need, HCH Food Bank aggressively supports summer lunch programs and school weekend backsack programs, in addition to its ongoing support for food pantries. These children’s meal programs are led by HCH’s partners, and HCH helps by providing significant food and volunteer support. In 2018, summer lunch programs in Hamilton County provided 95,572 meals to 1,919 children, a 57 percent increase in the number of children from 2017. For the 2018-2019 school year, $25,000 is needed to fund the HCH weekend backsack food commitments.
HCH’s goal is to raise $25,000 before Dec. 29; donations made before Dec. 7 can be used to utilize the Meijer Double Match Donation. All donations can be made through Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank, either online or via check. All donations made during the campaign will be doubled and made available to the food bank in the form of food cards. Donations can also be made easily at the checkout counter in the Noblesville store – look for Simply Give signs and cards.
Donate online at HCH’s secure website. Donate by mail to Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank, P.O. Box 881, Noblesville, IN 46061. For more information on how you can help locally, visit HCHFoodBank.org or visit the HCH Facebook page, Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank.
About Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank
Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank is the local food bank for Hamilton County and relies 100 percent on the generous communities in Hamilton County for all of its resources. HCH does not receive federal, state or county designated funds for support. Much of the food HCH provides has to be purchased. To help maximize monetary donations for food purchases, HCH partners with the Meijer Corporation in its Simply Give program at the Noblesville store. This allows a $10 donation to become $30 in food purchases HCH can use year-round.