After a daylong fundraiser this summer, three Chick-fil-A locations in Berks County have donated $2,500 to the Greater Berks Food Bank’s Weekender Backpack Program.
On Aug. 11, Chick-fil-A Exeter, Chick-fil-A Broadcasting Square and Chick-fil-A Berkshire Mall donated a portion of total sales to the backpack program, which sends healthy food home with 1,500 students in Berks and Schuylkill counties on Fridays during the school year.
Similar backpack programs are in place nationwide, stemming from the fact that school nurses were finding that low-income students were coming to school on Mondays with headaches and upset stomachs because they hadn’t eaten enough over the weekend for lack of food in their homes.
The Greater Berks Food Bank’s Weekender Backpack Program has 18 total sites in elementary schools-10 in Berks County and 8 in Schuylkill County. In Berks, the program helps children in the following school districts: Daniel Boone, Exeter, Antietam, Wilson, Conrad Weiser, Reading, Tulpehocken and Schuylkill Valley. Throughout the 18 sites, the food bank distributes about 1,500 backpacks full of food each Friday during the school year.
Chick-fil-A Exeter (www.chick-fil-a.com/exeter) is owned and operated by Shawn Filby. Chick-fil-A Broadcasting Square is owned and operated by Scott Keiser (www.chick-fil-a.com/broadcastingsquare), and Chick-fil-A Berkshire Mall (www.chick-fil-a.com/berkshiremall) is owned and operated by Brad Burkholder.
