A corporate giant and a national charity are working together to expand a hunger relief program in thirty Kentucky counties. Wal-Mart Inc. has awarded $100, 000 in grant money to Elizabethtown-based Feeding America Kentucky’s Heartland. Feeding America will increase its BackPack Program and also the number of food items students enrolled in the program receive, according to Gary Miles, Feeding America’s executive director in Kentucky.
The Elizabethtown branch of Feeding America asked for $50,000 in order to add 630 students to the program and another $50,000 to improve the quality of food given out.
The food bags are given out in 30 of the 42 central and western Kentucky counties helped by Feeding America Kentucky’s Heartland. Each bag is packed with approximately 12 items, including cereal, milk, fruit and snacks.
The bags are given out Fridays at the end of school. They are discreetly put into students’ backpacks so that the students do not feel embarrassed in front of their friends.
This program has expanded to approximately 200 schools and serves almost , 5,000 children in the 30-county area. Each bag costs about $2 to prepare.
“Walmart has really stepped up to the plate and helped us big time,” Miles said.