Flat Rock Backpack Program

We Feed Hungry School Kids!

The Backpack Program began in 2008 when we heard that there were Henderson County school children deemed “nutritionally deprived” at their homes on the weekends. We teamed up with MANNA Packs for Kids in Asheville, a food bank providing over 5,000 bags of weekend food in Western North Carolina.

Our mission is to combat childhood hunger right here in our community by providing supplemental food for children on the free and reduced lunch program so that they don't go hungry on weekends during the schoolyear. We make sure that

each child has food for three dinners, two lunches, two breakfasts, and two snacks on a regular weekend. On long weekends and vacations, we add more. Each year we provide over 5,000 bags of food.

We currently serve seven area schools, from daycare to high school, by adding supplemental food to MANNA bags. We are a totally volunteer group, from meeting the MANNA truck, to shopping, packing, and delivering to the schools. We rely on funds from the Outreach Committee and Episcopal Church Women of St. John in the Wilderness, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the Ladies Aid Society, grants such as the Human Hurt and Hope Fund, private donations, and our biggest fundraiser of the year: the Empty Bowls Event.

Our team welcomes all interested people to join us on Thursday mornings during the school year. You may also support us by donating at any time! All donations are tax deductible.