Backpack Buddies is a 501c3 non-profit organization created to supply economically disadvantaged children in the Coweta County School System with food for the weekend. Many children in our county are dependent on the "Free and Reduced" lunch program provided by their schools during the week and they have very little to eat over the weekends and holidays. We work with school counselors to identify children "at risk" for hunger and then we supply them with nutritious, self-serve food that will sustain them when school meals are not available. We are currently serving 1,150+ children in 33 schools, which is only scratching the surface of the true need here in Coweta County. Our vision is to be able to service these children year round through our normal school week operation and also be able to provide bags of food for these children over the summer months when the children do not have access to the “Free and Reduced” lunch program offered in the schools. We do this because research shows that hungry children have poorer mental and physical health, suffer with more behavioral disorders and are less prepared to learn when they are in school. Hunger is an increasing epidemic in our county and most residents are unaware. The Backpack Buddies program is essential to help relieve hunger, which in turn will improve grades, health, school attendance and self-esteem in these children.

You can pick up an enrollment form for Backpack Buddies in the Front Office at ECMS or go to the websitehttps://​backpackbuddiesga.org.