You can help Rock Hill Schools feed students in need

Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Rock Hill Schools are teaming up to make sure students have nutritious meals.

Rock Hill Schools Back the Pack provides meals during the school year for K-12 students in need of nutritional support during weekends when school meals are unavailable.

Rock Hill Schools partners with Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation to garner support from the community for the program’s growth and sustainability.

“We served about 1115 students this year. Our numbers have increased. Due to COVID, we have seen more need than we ever have before and thanks to Second Harvest, we have been able to meet that need,” said Serena Williams, community services coordinator for Rock Hill Schools.

The number one goal at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina is to end child hunger.

With almost 182,000 children in our region at risk of hunger every day, Second Harvest has developed several key initiatives to help feed kids.

For the past 16 years, WSOC-TV and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina have partnered to end area hunger through the 9 Food Drive.

There are many ways that you can help fight hunger and there is a great need to combat food insecurity in the Carolinas.

Approximately 553,000 people in our 24-county region live at or below the poverty level.

Over 42% of the people at risk of hunger in our region are children and seniors — almost 182,000 children and over 48,000 seniors.

The partner agencies of the food bank report that requests for food assistance have continued to increase at a rapid pace.

The unforeseen effect of the coronavirus has caused significant changes to how food donations can be collected and distributed.

You too can help by donating canned or nonperishable food items now at any Arby’s, Ashley HomeStore or E.R. Services.

A complete list of donation locations is listed here.

Because the food bank supplies food and essential grocery items to hundreds of agencies, a monetary donation helps all of these organizations. For every $1 the food bank receives, it distributes seven pounds of food. You can donate now by clicking on this link.

There is a great need for funds to purchase healthy, shelf-stable items for food boxes.

Second Harvest Food Bank, Rock Hill Schools team up to make sure children have meals

These boxes will help feed families whose children are missing school meals, seniors being asked to stay safely in their homes, other hungry individuals in quarantine and employees in our community impacted by decreases in work hours.

Food boxes are filled with a variety of items (peanut butter, cereal, fruit and vegetables). Each box varies depending on the items the food bank can purchase.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK AND THE 9 FOOD DRIVE.

If you have an inspiring story to share, email Kevin Campbell, WSOC-TV/WAXN-TV/Telemundo Charlotte public affairs manager, at Kevin.Campbell@wsoctv.com.

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