Basking Ridge
Food 4 Kids Drive
Helping Feed Local Kids in Need
Welcome to Ridge Food 4 Kids Drive, a community-driven effort to ensure no child in Basking Ridge goes hungry. Together, we can make a difference and provide a year’s worth of weekend meals to 111 local kids in need.
Let’s Show the Power of Basking Ridge Pride and Generosity!
Why it Matters
Every child deserves to thrive, yet many kids in our community face food insecurity. By coming together, we can provide healthy, nutritious meals to sustain them when school-provided meals aren’t available.
How You Can Help
We’ve partnered with #GiveHealthy to make donating easy and impactful. Through this innovative online platform, you can contribute nutritious food items directly to The Food Bank Network of Somerset County, ensuring your generosity reaches those who need it most.
Join the Movement
This initiative is powered by the strength of our community, with support from mothers’ groups, high school students, business leaders, local political leaders, religious organizations, and traditional food drive partners. Together, we’re mobilizing to make a meaningful impact for kids in need.
Backpack Program Overview
The Backpack Program began as a nationwide initiative to help provide supplemental food assistance to school students facing food insecurity on weekends. The Food Bank Network of Somerset County began our Backpack Program in 2009.
School students from Pre-School through Elementary grades, who meet Federal eligibility requirements to receive free school meals, are able to participate in the Backpack Program. Students receive a supplemental food package each week during the school year (special arrangements can be made to continue the Program during the summer months). Many at-risk children who receive free school meals are left without the nutrition they need on weekends. By providing children with a package of food each Friday, they return to school on Mondays better equipped to learn. Children are given one-gallon sized zip lock bags filled with child friendly, easy to open and prepare foods that do not require refrigeration or stove top cooking. The foods are both “open and eat” or “microwave and eat”.
Each Backpack bag contains six or seven food items depending on availability. Some menu examples include 3 oz. cans of tuna or tuna pouches, 3 oz. cans of chicken salad or pouches, packs of instant oatmeal, small boxes of cold cereal, canned pasta, peanut butter and jelly packs, fruit cups, microwaveable mac & cheese, granola bars, 8 oz. boxes of shelf stable milk, and 8 oz. boxes of fruit juice. The bags are packed by volunteers and delivered to the schools. This program is available at no cost to the recipients. Interested schools sign an agreement with the Food Bank. Administrators and school nurses in each school are responsible to confirm eligibility and obtain signed permission slips from parents or guardians. Schools regularly report the total number of packages needed each week.
Currently, the Food Bank Network provides supplemental Backpack food packages every week to over 1300 Somerset County students attending 25 different schools.
Let’s Show the Power of Basking Ridge Pride and Generosity!
Click below to make your contribution. Together, we can help feed local kids in need and make a lasting impact in our community.