Community Spotlight: Food for Kids
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It was a simple comment at a Bedford County school board meeting that left a lasting impression: Many children return to school on Monday mornings hungry, having had very little to eat over the weekend. While free breakfast and lunch programs help sustain students during the school week, the weekends tell a different story.
Several attendees couldn’t shake the image of children facing long, hungry days. And they didn’t just feel compassion, they took action.
Founded in 2010, Food For Kids (F4K) was created to combat weekend hunger for students across Bedford County. The need is great. The seven elementary schools currently served by the program have the highest percentage of students in Virginia qualifying for food assistance, an average of 96%.
What’s in a Food For Kids Bag?
Each week, F4K fills bags with enough food for six meals—hearty, shelf-stable staples like rice, mac and cheese, canned chicken, chili, ravioli and spaghetti. Also included are juice, snacks and vegetables. Once a month, peanut butter and cereal are added, and when available, bread is provided through a partnership with Lake Christian Ministries.
Focusing on kid-friendly items, weight of the bag, buying in bulk and nutritional factors, organizers have been able to maintain a cost of less than $10 per bag. The 2024-25 program served 668 students. At $10 per bag, per child, per week for nine months of the school year, that adds up to nearly $19,000.
Volunteers Making It Happen
A dedicated team of 20–25 volunteers packs bags every Thursday morning, with additional volunteer drivers delivering to schools. An all-volunteer executive board meets monthly to plan, implement and evaluate the program. Remarkably, over 98 percent of the F4K budget goes directly toward feeding the children.
Funding for F4K comes from across the community, including businesses, civic groups, churches, individual donors, grants, food drives and fundraisers. It’s the collective kindness and compassion of Bedford County and beyond that make this program possible.
Because of that generosity, children in our community can go into the weekend with more than just food to help them study and grow. They carry with them the knowledge that someone cares, especially in moments when hunger hits hardest.
Find out more at foodforkidspackasack.org.
