Second Harvest feeding Lehighton children when they’re not in school

Pizza day at school is enough to cure any student’s appetite, but when the weekend hits and the cafeteria ovens cool down, meals can be in short supply.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania has teamed up with Lehighton Area School District to send bags of food home with qualifying elementary students every week.

The Backpack Buddies Program launched Friday at the Lehighton Area Elementary Center with 69 participants.

“Carbon County has a nearly 19 percent rate of child food insecurity, so this is something desperately needed in this area,” said Meredith Mecca, Second Harvest child nutrition program coordinator. “The students have been identified by teachers, counselors, etc. Every month, they will get a full-size jar of peanut butter and a full-size box of cereal. Every week, they will get two milks, four juices, fruit, vegetables, canned meals, mac and cheese, etc.”

According to Mecca, the program is around 10 years old and started in Lehigh and Northampton counties. It now has a six-county reach, and Lehighton is the first Carbon County district to get involved.

Rebecca Karpowicz, an administrative secretary in the district, is spearheading the program on behalf of Lehighton.

“We’re really pleased to be offering this,” Karpowicz said Friday. “Now that we’ve started it, families are hearing about it and we’re getting calls left and right about participating.”

Lehighton is hoping to extend the program into the summer for what would likely be a smaller number of participants.

“If we could take one day a week and take a district van out to deliver to families, we’d like to do that,” Karpowicz said. “It’s something we’ve talked about.”

Second Harvest purchases and procures all of the food for the program during the school year, which amounted to 9.2 million pounds last year.

“The program is privately funded,” Mecca said. “We have received a generous grant from the Giant Family Foundation and a private donor, but there is always room to expand.”

Donations are accepted for the program. Mecca said $288 is the cost to provide weekend meals to a child over a one-year period.

To see what items are needed the most, or to volunteer when backpacks are packed, contact Mecca at 484-287-4015, 484-894-7774 or mmecca@caclv.org.

“All of the food is to ensure the children have reliable access to nutritious food every week,” Mecca said.

“Children should be thinking about what they want to be when they grow up, or who they want to sit with at lunch. They shouldn’t worry about where their next meal is coming from.”