BackPack Buddies feeds hungry kids

Stories, solutions for child hungerChild hunger by the numbersHow your donation helpsGive your time, talentsShare on social media

Child hunger in North Carolina

• 1 in 5 children in North Carolina is at risk of hunger
• Close to 500,000 children are going hungry across our state
• More than 118,000 children in the Food Shuttle’s 7-county service area applied to receive free and reduced price lunch. That’s almost 54% of school-aged children in these public school systems.
• North Carolina has the 10th highest rate of food insecurity in the nation.

On July 18, MIX 101.5, WRAL-TV and the generous residents of the Triangle joined forces to raise funds and food donations in a day-long community event on TV, radio, and social media. The food and funds benefit Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s child hunger programs.
The 2018 mediathon raised more than $186,000 and 3,800 pounds of food.
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is feeding children at risk of hunger right now, and nurturing long-term solutions that provide access to fresh, healthy food.

Learn more about hunger in NC

How your donation helps

Sponsor a Child’s BackPack: $35 every month means that a child knows you’ll always be there. By becoming a recurring BackPack Buddies sponsor, you ensure that a child’s BackPack is full every weekend with six nutritious meals and six snacks.

A one-time $365 donation fills and fully funds one child’s BackPack for an entire school year.

We fight childhood hunger on every level! Your donation also helps fund hot summer meals, our food truck, nutrition education and school pantries. See how you can make a difference:

$100 funds 30 hot meals from the Food Shuttle Kitchen delivered to our child summer feeding partner agencies.

$500 funds a day of free summer meals from our food truck. The “Mobile Tastiness Machine” drives into different low-income neighborhood sites each day to serve free healthy summer meals to kids.

$1,500 funds a cooking class for six weeks and a lifetime of healthy eating life skills for 15 students.

$3,000 funds a school pantry for a whole year. The Food Shuttle operates 25 school pantries in 4 counties, serving over 2,000 people every month.

Text "BackPack" to 33222 to donate any amount from your cellphone.

Drop off money, food

Bring your donation of non-perishable food or funds to one of our sponsor locations on July 18 between 6 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. and meet members of the WRAL-TV and MIX 101.5 teams.

Find us at the Food Lion in Lake Boone Shopping Center, 2420 Wycliff Road, in Raleigh, where our team will accept non-perishable food, cash or check donations.

Drop off food donations at a location near you

Donate non-perishable food at any Food Lion in Wake or Durham counties.

• What can be donated

Search below – by town, street or zip code – for a list of Food Lion drop-off locations.

{
    "name": "footable",
    "attrs": {
        "id": "16780939",
        "identifier": "BPBlocations",
        "all": "CITY|Zip|COUNTY|Phone number",
        "filter": "true",
        "placeholder": "Search by town, zip code or county",
        "on": "CITY",
        "order": "descending",
        "limit": "10"
    },
    "children": null
}

Teens 'Do Something' at food pantry to help neighbors
West Johnston High School's 'Do Something' club runs a pantry for families in their area. Watch ...

Kids learn to choose, cook healthy meals
At Eastway Elementary in Durham, young children, like Antonio Johnson, are learning that healthy and tasty food is well within their reach. Watch ...

Volunteers deliver food, fun for hungry kids
Dozens of sites in Wake County offer free meals to children and their parents to fill the summer gap for those who usually get a free or reduced lunch at school.. Watch ...

More stories of help and hope ...

Give your time, talents

It takes an army of volunteers to fuel the great work of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and there are so many ways for YOU to get involved. Help pack BackPack Buddies, assist teaching a nutrition class or get your hands dirty in one of our community gardens or at our Food Shuttle Farm. Whatever your hunger-relief passion, we have a way for you to take action.

Share on social media

Use the hashtag #BackPackBuddies and help us spread the word that childhood hunger is unacceptable!

Encourage your friends and family on social media to give, volunteer or take action with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.

Email this page to your friends.

WRALTV	@wral	@wral
MIX1015WRALFM	@MIX101.5	@MIX1015wralfm
FoodShuttle	@foodshuttle	@foodshuttle

Thanks to our community partners!
These companies and organizations have come through in a big way to help end hunger in NC:

Location sponsor

BackPack Backers

Check presenters

Allscripts
Duke Raleigh Hospital
Capital Bank
Capital Oaks Retirement Resort
Leith Cars
Lenovo
Moore & Van Allen
Red Hat
Sysco
WakeMed
Wynne Health Group LLC

Add your corporate gift