Help the Cleveland Foodbank Win a $45K Grant For Children's Program

The Cleveland Foodbank needs your vote to win a $45,000 grant for our BackPack for Kids program!

We're competing with food banks around the country to win one of 40 of Walmart's Fighting Hunger Together grants.

To win, we ask for our supporters to vote for us at this page: www.clevelandfoodbank.org/FacebookContest. Anyone with a Facebook account can vote for us once a day for the whole month of April. Please vote daily. Every vote counts!

Here's how to vote:

1. From now through April 30, log into your Facebook account and visit www.clevelandfoodbank.org/FacebookContest.
2. Bookmark this page!
3. Click on the orange "vote" button.
4. Come back daily to vote for the Cleveland Foodbank.
5. Share the link with friends and family on social media to encourage them to vote too. You can "Like" the Cleveland Foodbank page by clicking here to find shareable Facebook posts.

Why should you vote?

In the Cleveland Foodbank's six-county service area, one in six people is food insecure, meaning they're not sure where their next meal is going to come from. For children in our service area, that number is even more serious. One in five children is at risk of hunger.

This grant will be used to serve children, specifically, through our BackPack for Kids program. 

On average around 2,300 children each week receive backpacks from the Cleveland Foodbank.

What is BackPack for Kids?

Throughout the school year, the Cleveland Foodbank partners with school and afterschool programs to provide children with food to take home over the weekend.

At the beginning of the school year, all children receive a new backpack and can opener. At the end of each week throughout the school year, the backpacks are filled with nutritious food and are sent home discreetly with each child for the weekend.

Each child receives enough food for six full meals. Every week, Cleveland Foodbank volunteers pack six child friendly meals into plastic bags that are delivered to our partner sites. 

“For the teachers and workers in my buildings, there are always a few children that you worry about over the weekend and wonder if they have food at home," one BackPack for Kids site administrator said. “This program has relieved some of the hunger issues for the kids but it also has eased the minds of those at the schools who love these kids and send them home to the unknown.” 

These packages may include a variety of items such as cereal, a protein source such as tuna, peanut butter, or beef stew, canned vegetables and fruit, soup, pasta and sauce, juice boxes, and a snack such as peanut butter crackers or yogurt snacks. The backpacks are also used to share nutrition education with the children’s families to reinforce healthy eating habits and lifestyles at home.

Read more about the Cleveland Foodbank's BackPack for Kids program by clicking here.