Food drive fills backpacks

The Easton Newberry Sports Complex (ENSC) will be taking part in the United Way of North Central Florida’s Weekend Hunger Backpack Program throughout the month of December.

The program works by identifying chronically hungry school children and sending them home on Friday afternoons with a backpack of food to last them and their siblings throughout the weekend.

ENSC is asking that community members pitch in to help hungry children by dropping off kid-friendly food items at the complex located at 24880 NW 16th Avenue in Newberry.

Items should be nutritious and easy for a kid to carry. Suggested donations include canned meat, canned goods, snack cups, milk and juice boxes, individual snacks and breakfast items.

According the United Way of North Central Florida, the Weekend Hunger Backpack Program began when Felicia Moss, principal of Metcalf Elementary, expressed concern that the free or reduced meals that children received at her school might be the only substantial part of some of their diets. She noticed that children were waiting for the cafeteria to open at 6 a.m. on Mondays and hoarding or stealing food on Fridays, leading her to believe that some children were going hungry over the weekend.

According to Feeding Florida, 11.8 percent of all households in Alachua County are potentially food insecure, compared to 9.4 percent of all households in Florida. In 2007, Feeding Florida determined that 76 percent of Alachua County elementary school students qualify for free or reduced lunch, compared to 65 percent in Florida.