It’s been eight years since the Weymouth Food Pantry launched its Weekend Back Packs Program, which now serves an estimated 450 children across nine Weymouth public schools.
The program was established during the 2016-2017 school year when a group of teachers at Abigail Adams Intermediate School defined it as the worst year they had seen in terms of hunger in their classrooms.
The Weymouth Food Pantry, working in conjunction with the teachers, created Weekend Back Packs, which provides each child enrolled in the program with a back pack of easy to prepare meals and snacks to take home every Friday. The back pack menu is continuously assessed for nutritional value and adjusted to accommodate all food allergies and dietary restrictions.
“When students experience food insecurity, it compromises their ability to pay attention and learn, their capacity to be active and engage in sports, and also affects their social interactions with teachers and peers,” said Pamela Denholm, executive director of the Weymouth Food Pantry. “Since the program was implemented, teachers have noticed a dramatic improvement in attendance, performance, and relationships among students who were affected by hunger.”
Information on how to purchase Weekend Back Pack items or donate to the program can be found on the pantry’s website at www.weymouthfoodpantry.org. Please click on Programs and then on Hunger-Free Schools.
The Weymouth Food Pantry also works with a team of adjustment counselors at Weymouth High School to fully stock an onsite food pantry where students can discretely shop as needed. In addition, the Food Pantry supplies snack boxes for teachers to keep in their desk drawers rather than purchase snacks for students out of their own salaries.
About the Weymouth Food Pantry
The Weymouth Food Pantry is an independent 501(c)(3) charity providing free groceries to over 4,000 people in Weymouth at any given time. The Weymouth Food Pantry serves between 100 and 250 families per service day, 600 and 800 families each month, and distributes about 830,000 pounds of food per year. The Weymouth Food Pantry offers food assistance and education through a variety of food access, food equity, and health focused programs, including pop-up pantries, grocery delivery to homebound elders and people with disabilities, a dollar-match at the farmers’ market, weekend food bags for students in school, an open access community garden, and “made with love” meals freshly prepared and frozen for easy reheating by neighbors for whom meal prep is a barrier to food security.
The Weymouth Food Pantry was founded in 1987 by a small group of concerned citizens. Its executive office is located at 40E Reservoir Park Drive, Rockland, MA 02370. For more information, please visit www.weymouthfoodpantry.org, email info@weymouthfoodpantry.org, or call 781-331-7682.
