CONTACT: Kris Tazelaar, Communications Manager, Second Harvest Foodbank, 608-216-7206, krist@shfbmadison.org
MADISON, Wis. – Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin announces that it has received a $2,000 grant from the Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund, components of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, Inc., to support the Evansville BackPack Program.
Second Harvest Foodbank launched the BackPack Program in Evansville in 2005 in partnership with AWARE (a program of Community Action, Inc. in Rock and Walworth counties). Evansville kindergarten through fifth grade students, who qualify for the free/reduced lunch program, and their families benefit from the BackPack Program by receiving a backpack filled with nutritious, easy-to-prepare food to take home at the end of every week throughout the school year. As of the 2011-2012 school year, more than 27.1 percent of Evansville students were enrolled for free/reduced price school lunches. During this school year, the Evansville BackPack Program is providing, on average, 133 children with backpacks each month.
“Second Harvest Foodbank is grateful for the Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund’s support of the Evansville BackPack Program,” says Dan Stein, President/CEO for Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. “By providing food-filled backpacks to children and their siblings at risk of hunger during long weekends and other out-of-school times, these kids are better poised for school and play, and their parents have more money for life’s other necessities.”
Second Harvest Foodbank also operates BackPack Programs with community agencies in Sun Prairie (Dane County), Tomah (Monroe County) and Elroy (Juneau County).
About the Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund
This grant is made available by the Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund, components of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin. The Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund responds to our area’s not-for-profit organizations wanting to start new, innovative programs, or expand current services and provides the greatest flexibility for addressing changing needs to advance the most promising, creative approaches to strengthening communities. Grants from the Alvin & Dorothy Helgesen Family Fund and the Evansville Fund have strengthened ties between generations and have encouraged community participation in the arts, education, environment, health and human service programs, and historical preservation. For more information about this program and how you can impact your community you can contact Jane Maldonis at the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin at 608-758-0883, 1-800-995-2379, or visit our website at http://www.cfsw.org. The Community Foundation serves Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Rock, and Walworth counties.
About Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger in southwestern Wisconsin through community partnerships, serving nearly 141,000 people who struggle to put food on the table, including 43 percent who are children. Through food and financial donations and volunteer support, Second Harvest Foodbank acquires and distributes food to 315 partner agencies, including food pantries, shelters and meal sites, in 16 counties. From July 1, 2010–June 30, 2011, Second Harvest Foodbank distributed 8.6 million pounds of food. It is one of 200 members of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. For more information, visit http://www.SecondHarvestMadison.org.
