Charitable Giving: Operation BackPack
TrueNorth is proud to support the Operation BackPack Initiative, a program founded on the premise of helping all children get enough to eat and administered by the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) and funded by Diamond V.
Hunger in America is Real:
- Every 3.6 seconds, somewhere in the world, someone dies of hunger.
- Even with one of the safest and more affordable food supplies in the world, 15% of Americans suffer from food insecurity.
- Even in Iowa, one of the top agricultural states, there are communities where 1 in 4 school-age children get their only meal of the day at school.
Operation BackPack is an all-volunteer, non-profit venture with the mission to education and inform people about modern agriculture and food security issues. Operation BackPack currently helps elementary school children in 64 schools throughout the Eastern Iowa counties of Benton, Linn, Jones, Iowa, Johnson, and Washington.
It works like this:
At the end of the school week, participating schools send a bag of single-serve food items home with the students in backpacks. These non-perishable items are sent home to ensure that students have enough food to eat over the weekend. The backpacks also afford students a level of anonymity, increasing the chances that they partake in the initiative throughout their elementary-school years.
What you can do:
This weekend, Operation BackPack is showing VIP screenings of “The Ivy League Farmer” on Saturday, June 6th. In support of Operation BackPack and all they do for the children in our community, TrueNorth has purchased a limited number of movie passes to the movie release.
Simply visit the TrueNorth Facebook page (link at the bottom right corner of this page) and comment on this blog post with your time preference (matinee or evening showing). Your tickets will be available for pick-up under during business hours at our front desk. Please call our office at 1-800-798-4080 with any questions.
Ivy League Farmer premieres Saturday, June 6th at 2:30 pm or 7:30 pm (please select your preference) | Theatre Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Source: information from the Operation BackPack Initiative brochure, 2015