Connecticut Food Bank provides food to local programs such as soup kitchens and food pantries who, in turn, give food to children, families and individuals in need. Additionally, CFB supplies food to programs like Kids Cafe and the Kids' Backpack Program that are dedicated to providing children with food. Not every school, club or community has these programs or services. Check your local phone book or contact InfoLine by calling 211 or visiting www.InfoLine.org for a program near you.

Kids Cafe

The Kids Cafe program, established nationwide by America’s Second Harvest in 1993, provides free, prepared food and nutrition education to hungry children. Kids Cafes utilize existing community resources, such as Boys and Girls Clubs or schools, where children naturally congregate.

In June 2005, a Kids Cafe opened at the New London Youth Organization in southeastern Connecticut, where teens will prepare and serve food to other teens in need, initially serving 50 to 100 kids two days a week.

Kids' BackPack Program

The Kids' BackPack Program began in 2003, with help from the Sodexho Foundation and America's Second Harvest. The program works with schools to provide food to school children who may not have enough to eat at home on weekends. Connecticut Food Bank packs bags of food with nutritious food such as fresh or canned fruit, macaroni & cheese, and juice. School coordinators then put the bags of food into the kids' backpacks, keeping the program discreet to avoid any stigma associated with receiving donated food.

Currently there are Kids' BackPack Programs in 26 schools in the Bridgeport, Danbury, Derby, Middletown, New Haven and Stratford school districts.

Connecticut Food Bank is actively seeking other locations to sponsor Kids' BackPack Programs and Kids Cafes. If you would like to learn more about the Kids' BackPack Program, please contact Phaedra Ebron, CFB Child Nutrition Coordinator, at (203) 469-5000, ext. 333, or pebron@ctfoodbank.org. For the Kids' Cafe, please contact Kate Walton, CFB Programs Director, at (203) 469-5000, ext. 323, or kwalton@ctfoodbank.org.

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