Cultivate Culinary School and Catering, Inc.
Weekend Backpack Program and Covid ReliefCultivate Culinary School and Catering, Inc.
Weekend Backpack Program and Covid Relief
Over 43,000 students in St. Joseph, Elkhart, and Marshall counties currently receive free or reduced-price meals during the school week. Weekends for many of these children, however, are a time of significant food insecurity, when regular, nutritional meals are frequently unavailable. The resulting hunger can have long term effects. Research has shown that children who go hungry display greater levels of behavioral and emotional issues, including aggression and anxiety, as well as decreased academic performance.
Cultivate Food Rescue is dedicated to addressing this problem of weekend food insecurity through their Weekend Backpack program. This program provides elementary school aged children with backpacks containing six frozen meals each weekend to help bridge the 68-hour gap between their last meal at school on Friday, and their breakfast at the school on Monday. Started as a pilot program in 2019 with a group of 150 students, the program has grown to currently serve 850 local children. But even more need exists.
Cultivate submitted a grant application designed to help them expand this much-needed program, and to aid in their unexpected Covid relief efforts. The Foundation, citing the ongoing success of the program and its impact on health and education in our community, was pleased to approve this request and aid in its expansion.
