As Coweta students prepare to return to school, Backpack Buddies faces challenges in ensuring that those needing food the most receive it. That's why members of the Newnan Rotary Club helped Backpack Buddies pack and deliver more than 100 bags of food to underprivileged children in Coweta County.

Lori Burnett, the organization’s program coordinator, spoke to Rotary Club members about its mission and efforts to ensure as many children as possible have access to nutritious meals. The organization relies on donations, including from the Atlanta Community Food Bank. However, Burnett said obtaining the necessary items from the food bank is becoming more difficult.  The cost of food has impacted food banks in several ways, including increased food purchase prices, decreased food donations, and increased demand for food assistance.

In a recent interview, Atlanta Community Food Bank CEO Kyle Waide said the organization is seeing record-high visits from families needing food assistance due to inflation and continued high costs around healthcare and housing.  Waide explained that more than 230,000 households seek help every month, an increase of more than 50 percent over the past two and a half years. In February 2023, the USDA reported that food banks were paying about 30 percent more for food, averaging $0.77 per pound, to keep up with demand and make up for fewer donations.  Transportation costs have also increased, with food banks moving twice as many truckloads of food as before the pandemic.

“If I can get food from the Atlanta Community Food Bank, it costs pennies on the dollar compared to what we can get at Sams or Costco,” she said. “Unfortunately, the food bank hasn’t had what we need, so when your organizations provide food like the Rotary does today, it makes a huge difference for us. 

Senoia resident April Anderson started Backpack Buddies in 2011. It initially served two schools and 36 children. Before the organization celebrated its first anniversary, it had already doubled the number of schools served and nearly tripled the number of children served. In January 2018, Backpack Buddies took its biggest leap of faith by serving every school in Coweta County. During the school year, Backpack Buddies delivers to every school in the county, including charter and alternative schools. Burnett said local churches and organizations are working to ensure Backpack Buddies can start the school year serving students immediately. The organization provides school counselors with a list of identifiers to help them identify those who may not receive food regularly.

“Students that come to school without adequate food or may ask for food regularly would be the students that school counselors might offer Backpack Buddies to,” she said. “I hate that we have to send food home with kids because it means that there is a need, but I am so grateful that we get to, My hope would be that someday we would not need a program any longer like Backpack Buddies because that would mean we didn’t have hungry kids in Coweta County. But until then, we want to keep meeting the need and serving as many students as we can.”