The Backpack Program serves one of our most vulnerable and precious populations—children.

The mission of the Backpack Program is to meet the needs of hungry children by providing them with nutritious and easy-to-prepare foods to take home on weekends and school holidays when other resources are not available. Backpacks are filled with food that is child-friendly, non-perishable, and easily consumed. Each week,  backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend.

How the Backpack Program works:

• The Backpack Program provides food for hungry children on the weekends when other resources are not available. Each week of the school year, the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas distributes over 1,100 packs of child-friendly, non-perishable food for kids to eat over the weekend when school breakfast and lunch is not available.
• $170 provides a Backpack of food for a child for an entire school year. This program is funded by generous community sponsors in addition to grants from foundations and the United Way of Northeast Arkansas.

If you would like more information about the Backpack program, please call Abby Thomas at 870-932-3663 or email her at athomas@foodbankofnea.org.