Have you ever wondered about the children who get their best meals in the school cafeteria? What happens when they’re not in school?
Many children who qualify for free lunch or reduced fee lunch at their schools have little to eat at home and return to school after weekends distracted by their hunger and unable to focus on learning.
Family Mentor Foundation’s goal is to bridge the gap; to send these kids home with a Buddy Box every Friday during the school year to alleviate their hunger. A Buddy Box is a box filled with kid-friendly, nutritious, nonperishable, individual sized-food items that are easy for children to eat or prepare on their own. These meals and snacks help sustain children on the weekends when they are not in school.
““We are so thankful for this program. Our students are so grateful and ask about the buddy boxes at the beginning of the year. It is clear that they are appreciated by the families and are helping meet needs over the weekends. Thank you so much for this great program for our students.””
This school year, we will provide over 50,000 Buddy Boxes to hungry children at schools in Worthington, Columbus and South-Western City School Districts. Buddy Boxes are packed and filled by volunteers at our Worthington warehouse.
To qualify for this program your school needs to be in partnership with Family Mentor Foundation and be able to help organize and distribute our Buddy Boxes.
How it works:
Food is purchased with the support of local donors and community food drives. Boxes of food are assembled by volunteer groups and are distributed through the schools. $185 covers the cost of Buddy Boxes for 1 student for the year.
A typical Buddy Box is filled with nonperishable, individual-sized foods like: veggie/juice boxes, raisins, applesauce or fruit cups, Goldfish crackers, mac and cheese cups or instant meals, sunflower kernels, meat sticks, and instant oatmeal packages.
Our history:
During the 2014-2015 school year, 150 students were served during four long breaks, equaling 600 large backpacks.
During the 2015-2016 school year, we provided 250 students with a total of 8,250 Buddy Bags.
During the 2016-2017 school year, we served 350 students in eight schools with 1,400 Buddy Bags per month for a grand total of 12,600 Buddy Bags!
During the 2018-2019 school year, we served 900 students in 18 schools for a grand total of 32,400 Buddy Boxes.
During the 2019-2020 school year we provided over 56,000 Buddy Boxes to 1,500 students weekly in 30 schools throughout the school year and at feeding sites during the COVID shutdown.
During the 2020-2021 school year we provided over 60,000 Buddy Boxes to about 1,500 students weekly at School District grab-and-go feeding sites, via bus routes and at school when children had on-site learning.
During the 2021-2022 school year we provided over 61,000 Buddy Boxes to 1,600 students weekly in 34 schools throughout the school year. Additionally, we will provide 1,600 Weekend Snack Bags to hungry High School students in Worthington this year.
During the 2022-2023 school year we provided over 58,800 Buddy Boxes to an average of 1,600 students weekly in 36 schools throughout the school year.
We currently have 2,000 children waiting to be a part of this program. We need your help to meet this need! Please help us conquer childhood hunger in our own neighborhoods!
