Southwest Elementary kicks off Backpack Program
Clyde Fitzgerald, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank, spoke at Southwest Elementary's backpack program kickoff event on May 25
Clyde Fitzgerald, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest N.C., often uses the maxim: “Children who can’t learn become adults who can’t earn.”
We never get tired of hearing him say it because it’s true. To truly break the cycle of poverty that has too many members of our community struggling, we need to throw a cog in the wheel.
By providing meals to children at risk of going home on the weekends to empty refrigerators, we help them come back to school focused and ready to learn on Monday morning, making them more likely to achieve academically and therefore more likely to grow into adults with choices about their education and career.
Yesterday, Southwest Elementary held the official media kickoff for their backpack program, which as been actively feeding students since February. Read more about Southwest’s program in this article from The Dispatch.