Jacksonville, Fl — Catholic Charities Jacksonville is hosting a summer hunger backpack program to feed local students while they’re out of school.
Dozens of local families lined up outside Catholic Charities food pantry in Arlington on Monday for a new summer program that helps feed students while they’re out of school.
The pantry will serve up to 100 students every Monday from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. Students must present a report card of student ID and it’s first-come-first-served.
Regional Director Eileen Seuter says it’s an extension of Catholic Charities’ food assistance program.
“A lot of kids get all of their meals from school and so we wanted to be able to provide something for that gap throughout the summer.”, Seuter said.
It’s estimated more than 93,000 children in our region are food insecure. And the first week of summer break saw quite a response.
“We saw people coming from all over. We really thought it would be concentrated here in the Arlington area. We know there’s a need here. But we had done a pretty good job of getting the word out through media outlets like this and so we actually saw people coming from the beach, we saw families come from the westside. So the need is really spread out throughout our community.”, said Seuter.
Catholic Charities partnered s thankful for its collaboration with Feeding Northeast Florida and Baptist Health for making the Summer Hunger Backpack Program possible. The program is an extension of Catholic Charities’ existing food assistance program.
This expansion is modeled around the existing Weekend Hunger Backpack Program which runs through the school year.
Each bag is stocked with real food staples: fruit, meat, pasta, milk, and snacks to help sustain kids throughout the week.
Catholic Charities Jacksonville says it welcomes volunteers in the Arlington pantry, as well as monetary donations.
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