In the United States one in six children goes hungry at some point during the year. Translated into numbers, more than 13 million children in the U.S. live in “food insecure” homes. That means those families don’t regularly have enough food to eat and the food they have may not be nutritious. Often, the children have only one good meal per day, one that is provided at school through a free or reduced-price lunch program.

To help address this critical need in our community, Temple Sinai initiated a new program at the beginning of October called Backpack Buddies. Co-chaired by congregants Tricia Rosenbaum and Jan Fisher, the program is designed to provide economically disadvantaged children with food for the weekend. Temple Sinai has partnered with Powers Ferry Elementary, a school in our community, to provide 24 of its children (identified by the school counselor) with a backpack filled with food for the weekend every Friday. (The backpack includes 4 proteins, 4 vegetables, 2 servings of milk, 2 servings of juice, 2 breakfast items, and 2 snacks.)

Volunteers are needed to help put these backpacks together!

The next dates are Tuesday, January 8 and Tuesday, January 22 at 11:00 am at Temple Sinai.