BRAFB receives big donation from Giant
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank received a $60,000 donation from Giant to support its Family BackPack and Community Sponsored BackPack Programs.
The goal of these programs is to ensure that children and families at risk of hunger get nutritious foods at home when school-based resources are unavailable.
“We provide food so they can pack these bags, send them home over the weekends, and the kids and their family members will have access to healthy and nourishing foods,” said Karen Ratzlaff, BRAFB's chief philanthropy officer.
The food bank said this donation alone is going to feed 2,400 children a month.
"This is just another avenue to make sure children specifically have the nourishment they need. We are seeing an uptick, the last six months, there’s been a spike largely due to inflation and the cost of food for everybody is higher, so we think this is just another way Giant and other partners are helping us make a dent in that need,” added Ratzlaff.
Giant prides itself on being committed to being a better neighbor and wants food to be accessible to everyone, especially students, so they can worry about one less thing when going to school.
“We know that kids need access to healthy food because when they are hungry, they are not able to study, they are not able to perform at their best level, so working with Blue Ridge Area and providing the nutritious meals that they need empowers them to live their best life,” said Johnathan Arons, the External Communications and Community Relations Manager for Giant.