Banks Elementary weekend backpack program now serves 47 students

Every Wednesday, Trudi Grimes, a secretary at the Banks Elementary School, packs bags of weekend food for students with two volunteers. On Friday afternoon, the backpacks go home with students. "We currently serve 18 families. That's 47 students total," Grimes said in an email to the Banks Post. Each backpack holds one breakfast, one lunch and two to three snacks per student for every non-school day, she said. The program also puts together larger food boxes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break. "We start with elementary students but if they have siblings in the middle or high school we include them as well," Grimes said. The program has been running for four years, she said. "A previous staff member had heard about the program and started it here," Grimes said. "By the end of the first year we were up to 14 families," she said. "Each year that number has grown." Grimes has taken over the program, Banks Elementary School Principal Marjorie Salter said in an email.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.