The Hart County FCS Advisory Council, in 2009, identified hunger in children and food insecurity as being a large problem in Hart County schools. From this meeting a steering committee was established under the leadership of Extension FCS to address this issue. In 2020 this program continues to thrive under the leadership of FCS Extension. 

Children identified by teachers and FRC staff as at risk for hunger, received a bag of food each Friday, with 10 to 12 easy to eat and prepare items for the weekend. This is placed in their own backpack discretely to avoid any stigma.

As a direct result of this program evaluations showed that school personnel noticed an improvement in the children’s behavior with less evidence of hunger. One child exclaimed ‘this is all for me and I am going to get it every Friday?’ with eyes wide open. One parent expressed much appreciation for the food and reported that she had gone back to work and would not need it any more. Another parent called the school on Friday and said that her 4 children were home sick and could she pick up the food for them.

 The community has been very generous in their support both financially and in volunteer hours.  This generosity has allowed the program to average serving 100 students per year. Over the 11 years the Backpack program has been operating more than 110,000 students have been sent home with over 4,400,000 bags of food to relieve the hungry they experience over the weekend. 

The Hart County Backpack Program has truly been a county wide effort. Extension, Family Resource personal, community volunteers, churches, and school officials have worked together to fund and make this program succeed in helping families provide nutritious food for children.