NEW MEXICO TEACHER FILLS BACKPACKS WITH FOOD

Marvin Callahan, a first grade teacher at public school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has started a program to send backpacks full of food home with some of his students on the weekends after witnessing widespread hunger. New Mexico has the highest rate of child hunger in the country, with nearly a third of children going to bed hungry. In response to the problem, Callahan and other members of the community send 37 children home with backpacks full of food each weekend: two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners. He began the program two years ago out of his own pocket, although it now has donations from members of the community and local organizations. Retired teachers come in on Thursdays to fill up the backpacks with food items like breakfast bars, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, and sliced turkey. 

Source: Think Progress, 10/6/14, Backpacks