WRAL and BackPack Buddies work together to erase childhood hunger

One of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle's programs to address childhood hunger in North Carolina is BackPack Buddies, where volunteers deliver pre-packaged food to students identified by school counselors and social workers.

So far, 71 schools are involved in program serving 1,800 children a week.

“In the backpacks the kids have easy open, easy access food," said Shirley Monroe, Child Hunger Programs manager at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. "It consists of four meals: two breakfast meals, which consist of healthy cereal and healthy milk, and two lunch or dinner meals.”

One in six children are at risk of hunger in North Carolina, according to Feeding America.

Accoding to the website, each BackPack Buddies bag includes enough food to feed one elementary school child four meals over a weekend.