The Summer Backpack Project aims to send each ABC camper home on Fridays with a backpack full of food for families to consume throughout the week. The food will be healthy, easy to prepare, and delicious!
ABC’s therapeutic Camp Calvin encourages children’s academic and personal growth through six weeks of closely supervised and enjoyable educational, cultural, and recreational activities. In addition to more traditional academic activities, ABC’s camp offers unique, hands-on experiences that promote children’s learning capacity and engage them outside a typical classroom environment, such as trips to museums, ballparks, zoos, landmarks, and parks. Many of ABC’s campers have few other opportunities to leave their neighborhoods, let alone participate in a safe, exhilarating, and fun-filled summer camp.
Since many families in the East Harlem community struggle with hunger, the Summer Backpack Project will provide each camper with a backpack full of nutritious food to take home over the weekend. The goal is to prepare a backpack for all 70 ABC campers once per week for each of the six weeks of camp.
First, ABC will purchase food items for each camper’s backpack once per week. Once the groceries are purchased, ABC volunteers will stuff each child’s bag on Fridays so that the camper may take the food home to his or her family over the weekend.
The Summer Backpack Project addresses the widespread hunger in the East Harlem community. In a survey of ABC families conducted in November 2016, 63% of respondents said they have a very tight budget, and 28% cannot afford enough food to feed their families.