Second Harvest awarded $7,500

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Kennedy Family Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, has awarded $7,500 to Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley’s BackPack Program at Campbell Elementary School.

The program fills the gaps when other resources for food are not available, such as weekends and holidays.

Each Friday during the school year, 150 third- and fourth-graders take home a backpack full of child-friendly, nutritious food to eat over the weekend. With the help of the Kennedy Family Fund through the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, the BackPack Program has been feeding hungry kids in Campbell since 2007.

“Nearly 30,000 children in the Valley live in poverty, and our mission is to fulfill this ongoing need in our community,” said Michael Iberis, food-bank executive director.

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley is operated exclusively for charitable, education and scientific purposes which effectively assist and promote the well-being of residents of Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Information about the foundation can be found at www.cfmv.org.

Second Harvest distributes food to 153 hunger-relief organizations in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.