JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Food insecurity affects one in five children in Jacksonville and Nemours Children’s Heath has partnered with Blessings in a Backpack for a fifth year to deliver healthy meals to children in Duval County Schools.
On Thursday, hundreds of backpacks were stuffed with healthy ready-to-eat food. Nemours employees and leaders packed the backpacks and delivered them to students at Andrew Robinson Elementary School.
“There are families who can’t for whatever reason provide the sustenance the children need on a daily basis. We help during school days because they can get breakfast at school or free lunch, but what happens on the weekends? Blessings in a Backpack walks in and says we’re going to make sure you have food on the weekends too. That takes money and Nemours stepped up to the plate,” Eric Sandler, Chief Medical Officer at Nemours, said.
“It really means a lot to us here at Andrew Robinson because we know our little babies have what they need for the weekend to make sure they are fed, they are healthy and they are ready to return to us and learn each and every Monday,” Andrew Robinson Principal Mychelle Grover said.
The First Coast Chapter of Blessings in a Backpack is an organization dedicated to providing weekend nutrition to children. This event is part of Nemours Cares Week - a bi-annual week of impact service through employee volunteerism.