Because hunger doesn’t stop after the school day, Backpack Buddies Seabrook Island (BPBSI) will be rolling out its Annual Fundraiser on August 3 to raise funds to purchase nutritious food for food-insecure children.
BPBSI provides food to about 375 children every week during the school year, so they will not go hungry over the weekend. The programs we served this year are Angel Oak Primary School, Johns Island Elementary School, Lambs Elementary School, and Our Lady of Mercy Outreach After School Program.
To serve food-insecure children during the summer, BPBSI is expanding its services.
We will be supporting Our Lady of Mercy Outreach this summer by supplying nutritious food for children at their food pantry. Johns Island Elementary is hosting a Summer Learning Program and has asked us to provide weekend food bags for its program. Also, Angel Oak Primary School has requested our help to staff their Summer Pantry, which distributes food provided by the Lowcountry Food Bank.
As we prepare to launch the Annual Fundraiser, we’d like to share the process BPBSI uses to provide nutritious bags of food to children.
Every week, volunteers shop for food, set up packing stations, assemble food bags, and deliver them to schools. The process of deciding on the food, shopping for it, setting up assembly line tables, packing the food, loading the food into cars, and delivering it to the schools is so efficient that a Fortune 500 company would be envious – all this from a pantry at Oyster Catcher Community Center.
Board of Directors – This working board fundraises as well as plans the entire process. They coordinate with the schools about the delivery and work with the Shoppers to purchase the food.
Shoppers- Each shopper purchases food for about 125 students per week during the school year. They are given a list of recommended shelf-safe, single-size items to purchase at either Costco or Sam’s Club to get the best price per item. They provide a receipt for reimbursement and drop off the items for loading into the pantry at Oyster Catcher.
Set Up Crew – This Crew arrives around 9:00 am on Thursdays to lay out items in an assembly-line format for the packers, using three tables—one for each school.
Packers – Remember the I Love Lucy episode where Lucille Ball worked at the Chocolate Factory wrapping chocolate from a conveyor belt? Luckily, the Packers don’t have to worry about an electric conveyor belt, but the assembly line is just as efficient. The Packers efficiently pack the items into paper bags. These bags are then sealed and placed in large Ikea bags for delivery.
Delivery Crew – This crew loads the packed IKEA bags into their cars for delivery to each school. Upon arrival, school staff help with unloading and return the IKEA bags from the previous week so they can be reused the following week. The children whose parents have signed up for the program receive their bags on Friday to take home for the weekend.
Thank you in advance for joining us to ensure that local children will have access to food outside school hours!
To learn more about BPBSI (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit), click here.
-Submitted by Backpack Buddies Seabrook Island