The Backpack Program at Franklin Elementary School provides valuable support to students whose families are dealing with food insecurity. Each weekend, these students are sent home with a bag of food items, which helps insure that they're getting the nutritional support they need to have strong bodies and active minds. For several years now, the church family at Calvary Baptist has been supporting the Backpack Program at Franklin Elementary School. And this year, our Backpack Team has taken that support to a higher level.

Twice a month, volunteers from the Backpack Team travel to Winston-Salem so they can purchase the items we need "in bulk." Once the supplies are back at church, team members meet to pack the bags--which is no small task--since each bag includes 2 breakfast items, 3 meal items, 2 fruit items, a salty snack, and a sweet snack...and they're usually assembling 90 to 100 bags for each week! Once the bags are prepared, they're loaded into crates and delivered to the school. And then, additional volunteers visit the school to help distribute items to the students who receive them.

As you can tell, it takes a lot of work! (And a significant amount of financial support, too!) But thanks to the ongoing and generous support of our church family and our Backpack Team, we're able to encourage the teachers and staff at Franklin Elementary - and bless students and their families by sharing the love of Christ in a practical way.

If you'd like to know more about the Backpack ministry--or support it with your time or financial gifts--we encourage you to touch base with our Backpack Coordinator, Becky Critz.