The McCracken County Extension service provides a 4-H Back Pack program to youth in elementary, middle and high school. Each week 2 Extension agents work with 50 high school students and teachers to fill over 400 back packs for youth that are identified by teachers. All county,  and city schools in McCracken and St. Mary elementary participate in this program. All food in the back packs are handy for young children and are non-perishable so that they can eat with little to no preparation or time constraints. The funding is raised only through businesses, churches and individuals in McCracken County so that the program is self sustaining. An endowment has also been set up for the program through an anonymous donor for $24,000 per year. The cost for a weeks worth of food is just over $1,350.00 per week with youth being fed every week that school is in session starting after Labor Day and ending in May. A total of 32 weeks out of the school year are supplied with backpacks for a total of $43,200 spent each school year for approximately 13,000 backpacks. All funding for this program is supported solely by the McCracken County community. We recently received our 5th Paducah Bank Community Grant to help with the 2018 school year and are the longest running entity to receive these funds. These grants generally run between eight and nine thousand dollars.  This self sustaining program continues to generate more community funds for youth since  its inception in 2000.