*note: Due to the weather forecast, the BackPack Buddies Food Drive has been moved to Friday, August 29th*

MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM will host a BackPack Buddies Food Drive Friday, August 29th to help the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The drive will run from 6am until 6pm in front of Old Navy in Crossroads Plaza Shopping Center on Crossroads Boulevard in Cary, NC.

Bill Jordan and Sheri Logan of Bill & Sheri in the Morning will kick off the event Thursday morning on location to encourage MIX 101.5 listeners to donate food, new backpacks or monetary contributions.

Over 91,000 children in a seven county region rely on free or reduced lunches during the school year. The BackPack Buddies Program is designed to meet the needs of these children when other resources are not available by providing backpacks filled with enough food for six healthy meals and two healthy snacks that children take home on the weekend. The empty backpacks are collected after the weekend and refilled for the next weekend’s use.

Non-perishable food items that are needed include

• pop-top canned food (e.g. soups, Chef Boyardee, meats, tuna, fruits and vegetables),
• individual sized cereal boxes,
• individual packaged crackers,
• healthy snacks (e.g. granola bars, oatmeal, breakfast bars),
• microwavable meals (e.g. macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles) and
• 100% juice in cans, plastic bottles or boxes.

Local corporations, civic groups and individuals collect backpacks and food and then help pack the bags.

In 2007, the BackPack Buddies program provided 120,000 meals for hungry children.

Thanks to WRAL-FM’s Luanne Tart for this capcom story.