The Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation is pleased to announce that it received a $42,000 grant from Walmart. This gift supports Back the Pack, a program that combats childhood hunger by providing nonperishable food and snacks for students during weekends when school meals are unavailable. The grant will be focused on increasing the protein in foods supplied to students in the Back the Pack program.
“We’re thankful we can count on Walmart for generous, on-going support for this vital hunger relief program and our Foundation’s work,” said Alice Davis, president of the Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation.
Back the Pack discreetly identifies under-nourished students in Rock Hill elementary and middle schools and provides them with nutritious foods on weekends to alleviate symptoms of chronic hunger when school meals are unavailable. Each week during the school year, close to 700 students are equipped with the nutrition they desperately need for academic success. Back the Pack has successfully served over 4,200 children since 2008.
“Back the Pack is an outstanding program that helps Rock Hill families who are struggling with hunger,” said Brooke Mueller, Walmart director of public affairs. “We’re thrilled to partner with the Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation to keep Back the Pack strong and support a highly successful community effort to give good meals to so many children.”
In 2016, Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs and the Walmart Foundation awarded more than $29.6 million in cash and in-kind donations to South Carolina charities, including more than 16 million pounds of food donated to local food banks, which is the equivalent of more than 13 million meals. For more information on Walmart’s fight against hunger, visit http://foundation.walmart.com/our-focus/hunger.
About The Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation:
The Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation will promote a collaborative alliance between the community and the Rock Hill Schools to provide funding and other resources to support educational initiatives. In addition to providing support and resources for Back the Pack, the Foundation currently advances its mission by awarding grants to educators for creative and innovative classroom projects, hosts an annual Student Celebration awards event, and an Innovation Gala to raise funds for programs that the Foundation supports. To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.rhsdfoundation.org.
About Walmart in South Carolina
In South Carolina we serve customers at 123 retail units and online through Walmart Grocery Pickup, Walmart.com and Jet.com. We are proud to employ more than 32,000 associates in South Carolina. Walmart supports local businesses, spending more than $1.6 billion with suppliers in FYE17, which supported more than 26,000 supplier jobs here. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are active in South Carolina communities where we live and work and invest in communities through local grants, customer engagement and associate volunteer efforts. In FYE17, we contributed nearly $30 million in cash and in-kind donations to South Carolina nonprofits and our associates here volunteered more than 20,000 hours with local causes. Learn more at the Walmart Today blog.