Food drive to show 'We've Got Your Back'
The University Leadership Conference benefits children from low-income families and supports leadership opportunities
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Features
This year Cal State Fullerton's University Leadership Conference adopted the "We've Got Your Back" food drive as a part of the community service project. The University Leadership Conference along with the Orange County nonprofit organization Giving Children Hope will host the drive.
There will be several food donation bins and drop-off locations around campus where students can donate individually packaged food items up to March 8.
The We've Got Your Back-Weekend Backpack Club for O.C. Kids program provides weekend meals to children 5 years and older who come from low-income families.
During the week, these children obtain free lunch through the schools, but on the weekends, some children are left without nutritious meals to eat due to their families' financial circumstances.
GCH works with social workers to identify students who benefit from the weekend lunch program, according to Razo. Each Friday the selected children are given a backpack filled with enough food for the weekend. When returning to school on Monday, the backpack is collected and filled during the week with the donations made to GCH. By the end of the week, the children are once again given a backpack filled with enough food to sustain them over the weekend.
"The number of homeless children and young enrolled in public school in Orange County in the 2003-04 school year increased by 239 percent," according to the GCH Web site. GCH is currently working with about 40 to 50 children in the Orange County area.
"Many of the children on the WGYB program are living in motels or are classified as being homeless. Chronically hungry children in O.C. has become a major problem that many people are not aware of," said WGYB Program Coordinator Elizabeth Saldana.
Along with CSUF students, the WGYB food drive is accepting food donations from surrounding community members and grocery stores. Saldana said the program is currently adopted by Gilbert Elementary in the Buena Park School District, Danbrook Elementary in Centralia School District and Lambert Elementary in the Tustin School District.
There will be several food donation bins and drop-off locations around campus where students can donate individually packaged food items up to March 8.
The We've Got Your Back-Weekend Backpack Club for O.C. Kids program provides weekend meals to children 5 years and older who come from low-income families.
During the week, these children obtain free lunch through the schools, but on the weekends, some children are left without nutritious meals to eat due to their families' financial circumstances.
GCH works with social workers to identify students who benefit from the weekend lunch program, according to Razo. Each Friday the selected children are given a backpack filled with enough food for the weekend. When returning to school on Monday, the backpack is collected and filled during the week with the donations made to GCH. By the end of the week, the children are once again given a backpack filled with enough food to sustain them over the weekend.
"The number of homeless children and young enrolled in public school in Orange County in the 2003-04 school year increased by 239 percent," according to the GCH Web site. GCH is currently working with about 40 to 50 children in the Orange County area.
"Many of the children on the WGYB program are living in motels or are classified as being homeless. Chronically hungry children in O.C. has become a major problem that many people are not aware of," said WGYB Program Coordinator Elizabeth Saldana.
Along with CSUF students, the WGYB food drive is accepting food donations from surrounding community members and grocery stores. Saldana said the program is currently adopted by Gilbert Elementary in the Buena Park School District, Danbrook Elementary in Centralia School District and Lambert Elementary in the Tustin School District.
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