Are there hungry children in Dracut?

Dracut Rotary Club welcomed Andrea Connelly, the Program Coordinator of 
Dracut’s End 68 Hours of Hunger Chapter, to a recent meeting to answer that question.
End 68 Hours of Hunger is one of Dracut Rotary Club’s annual charities. 

“End 68 Hours of Hunger is a non-profit effort to confront the approximately 68 hours of hunger that some school children experience between the free lunch they receive in school Friday and the free breakfast they receive in school Monday,” according to the program. The concept originated in New Hampshire in 2011, is the idea of Claire Bloom. According to Bloom “ this weekend program puts nourishing food in the hands of school children to carry them through the weekend.” 

Currently, there are 54 Dracut children in the Public Schools and Innovation Academy Charter School receiving a backpack to take home on Friday, according to Connelly. The backpacks are filled with non-perishable items like cereal, crackers, peanut butter and jelly, canned tuna and chicken and pastas, mac and cheese mixes, canned fruits, and nutrition bars. School administrators identify the children in need and parents and guardians give permission. 

The staff  is 100% volunteer and all food is donated or paid for with donations from individuals and groups, like Dracut Rotary Club. Dracut Rotary has been a sponsor of the Dracut chapter for the past decade.