Non-profit gives SWFL kids healthy options

Published: Updated:
Melinda Lee/WINK

A non-profit organization is helping feed Southwest Florida children in need — one backpack at a time.

Florida ranks number four in the country for childhood hunger, including tens of thousands of children attending Southwest Florida schools, according to Cecilia St. Arnold, executive director of Blessings in A Backpack SWFL.

“In Lee County alone, 29,000 children are deemed food insufficient,” St. Arnold said.

Bags containing two breakfasts, two lunches, a snack, and a drink are distributed every Friday to thousands of children in need.

For Arlene Kane, assistant principal of Tice Elementary School, these lunches help her students.

“We’re in a very high poverty area so the struggle is always there for our students,” Kane said.

St. Arnold said Blessings in A Backpack SWFL feeds more than 3,500 children in Lee and Collier counties:

  • Golden Gate Elementary School
  • Shadowlawn Elementary School
  • Tice Elementary School
  • Colonial Elementary School
  • James Stephens Elementary School
  • Franklin Park Elementary School
  • Mirror Lakes Elementary School
  • Veteran’s Park Academy School
  • Lehigh Middle School
  • Boys and Girls Club of Lehigh
  • J. Colin English School
  • Littleton Elementary School
  • Unity Charter  School of Cape Coral
  • Bonita Charter School
  • Franklin Park Elementary School

St. Arnold said the program is privately funded one prepared meal costs $2.64, and $100 can feed one child for a 38-week school year.

“They’re growing, their brains are developing, so we want to make sure that they’re consistently getting nutrition all seven days of the week, that’s how we break cycles of poverty,” St. Arnold said.

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