The Weekend Bag

Friday might seem like the best day of the week to almost every student, except for the children who dread knowing that they will not having their next meal until the following Monday. Statistics show that 16.2 million children live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. In order to help aid those children, The Capital Area Food Bank started a program in 2002 called The Weekend Bag.

The Weekend bag provides groceries that allow for several meals over the weekend for students aged 5-18 who are in need of financial aid within their families.

CAFB’s Weekend Bag program distributed over 54,000 bags in 2011 to 2,000 children. They did not, however; achieve this major accomplishment without the help of other brother programs such as community and Church organizations. Together, these programs work as one unit to help get the students, who qualify for reduced-fee lunches, a meal over the weekend.

What makes this organization so diverse and intriguing, is the impact teachers and staff have seen in their children who are provided with this service. Principals at schools in different parts of Maryland, that have shown over 50% needing reduced-price lunches, have said that these students often get along with their classmates during school hours, have better self-esteem, and start to create closer relationships with their teachers now that they are involved with the program. Attendance has also improved on delivery days, because students do not want to miss out on their bags. Not to mention that anyone can start volunteering and create The Weekend Bag program at their own school. In fact, Mascoutah has a program. If you are interested in getting involved and helping out your community, check out the the Mascoutah Weekend Bag Program on Facebook.