Blessings in a Backpack

Blessings in a Backpack is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. It mobilizes communities, individuals and resources to provide weekend food for school-aged children across America who might otherwise go hungry. The organisation addresses the 65-hour gap between the Friday school meal and Monday's, when many children have limited access to food.

Its principal programme distributes nutritious, ready-to-eat food that children take home in their backpacks each weekend. During the 2024-2025 school year the programme provided 2.7 million hunger-free weekends and served nearly 1,000 schools. Since 2009 it has provided more than 30 million hunger-free weekends to more than one million children.

Around this sits a scalable community model: a community-driven programming framework that any community in America can adopt to end weekend hunger for its children. The model operates at more than 1,200 program locations nationwide, supported by seven regional chapters. The work sits at the intersection of childhood hunger relief, food security and K-12 education.

The organisation describes itself as mission-driven, with an emphasis on scalable sustainability and on mobilising volunteers and community resources. Its founding principle is that no child should experience weekend hunger.