NSB Contributes $1,000 to Fryeburg’s Sunshine Backpack Food Program
FRYEBURG—Since 2013, a group of volunteers gather each week in Fryeburg to store, bag, and prepare hundreds of packages of ready-to-eat, shelf-stable, food. It’s arduous work, but its meaning inspires the participants: giving children (kindergarten through eighth grade) healthy food to eat between the end of school Friday and Monday morning. The group believes, simply, that no child should be hungry.
The Sunshine Backpack Food Program aims to ensure children in need in MSAD 72 (Fryeburg, Brownfield, Denmark, Sweden, Lovell, Stoneham, Stow, and Chatham, New Hampshire) receive weekly bags of food for weekends and vacation weeks. The bags contain breakfast, lunch, and snacks, with larger bags sent home for school vacations and the offering of special treats at holidays.
Recently, Norway Savings contributed $1,000 to the organization, in addition to a nearly $700 contribution in November associated with the NSB Fryeburg branch’s 50th anniversary.
“We’ve been supplying between 100 and 110 bags weekly. NSB’s generous contributions through the years have considerably helped in our efforts to alleviate food insecurity for the children of this community,” said Jane Lounsbury, Treasurer of the Sunshine Backpack Food Program. “We are very thankful for Norway Savings’ support and involvement in the local community.”
“This program is run entirely by volunteers and funded by community donations, fundraising activities, and grants. The program’s impact in the face of countless challenges is remarkable, and NSB could not be more grateful for all that they do for the community and children in need,” said Dan Walsh, President and CEO of Norway Savings.
There are so many ways to lend the Sunshine Backpack Food Program and its beneficiaries a helping hand. To learn more, visit www.sunshinebackpacks.org.
