Needy students given food for weekend - USATODAY.com: Today and every Friday, more than 50,000 children are taking backpacks full of food home from school in programs that have quietly swept the nation. The goal is to keep needy kids and their families from going hungry on weekends.
More than 120 food banks are distributing backpacks at 1,200 sites — mostly schools — in 40 states, up from about 30 food banks in a handful of states three years ago, according to Maura Daly of America's Second Harvest, a network of food banks.
Funding for the BackPack Program has come from individuals, civic groups, churches and companies, including Wal-Mart. 'There's a real concern about childhood hunger in the United States,' Daly says.
Hilary Duff, 19, TV's Lizzie McGuire, worked with another hunger-relief group, USA Harvest, to launch Blessings in a Backpack. Begun in July 2005 at two schools in Louisville, it will serve eight schools in four states by next month. Duff funds weekend meals for about 1,000 kids at a Los Angeles grade school.
Each backpack contains several pounds of healthful foods such as fruit cups, bread, milk, juice, crackers, beef stew and peanut butter.
