Non-profit hosts food drive to feed local kids
JACKSON, Tenn. — A local organization is feeding children one backpack at a time.
Today RIFA hosted their tenth annual Pack the Bus Food Drive at different Kroger and Walmart locations around the Jackson area.
“Today we are collecting Snack Backpack items for our RIFA program to help feed children on the weekends,” said RIFA employee Joseph Rogers.
The Snack Backpack program was created for students who needed meals on the weekends when school wasn’t in session.
“We will give out roughly 1300 per week at the different locations throughout Jackson. And this will be food for them on the weekends, whereas they may not have a meal to eat,” Rogers said.
The community is encouraged to shop at their local Kroger and Walmart locations to help pack the Jackson-Madison County school buses full of non-perishable items.
“It means a lot because a lot of these children do not have enough meals during the day, and the parents are not able to afford it. So this helps the parents keep their children healthy and have a meal,” said volunteer Peggy Graves.
The Snack Backpack drive brought many volunteers to help out.
“The people coming out are really friendly and receptive, and I think right now, with the way things are, that everybody enjoys it. It just shows everybody still has a heart no matter what you see, no matter what you hear. We still love each other and care about each other and we’re all going to get through this together,” said volunteer Marc Jackson.
If you’d like to volunteer with RIFA you can visit our ‘Seen on 7‘ section of our website.
