Volunteers Stuff Backpacks for Needy Children at Operation Food Search in U City

During the week, poor students know they are at least guaranteed one meal a day. But what happens to the kids on weekends when they go home and face the problem of not having enough, if any, food?

That's where , located at 6282 Olive Blvd. in University City comes in.

This past Tuesday, about a dozen staff members from the St. Louis based grocery chain Save-A-Lot were busy stuffing canned food into backpacks. With school back in session, so is "Operation Backpack." The program provides a backpack of food for low income elementary students to take home after school each Friday to be eaten over the weekend.

Save-A-Lot kicked off this year's program by donating a month’s worth of free food, totalling about $10,000.

"We're up to almost 3,500 kids a week," said Craig Goldford, director of food resources at Operation Food Search. "We realize they (students) don't have any food on the weekends, so we provide them a backpack of all different types of assorted foods, proteins, fruits, vegetables, snacks that they can take home on the weekend," said Goldford.

"They take a backpack home and share the food with their family and they bring the backpack back and we replenish it every week."

Most of the students who benefit from "Operation Backpack," live in St. Louis city, however some students in the county also receive the backpacks.

Operation Food Search is privately funded and does not receive any United Way funds or government food. Operation Food Search provides all food and services free of charge through 250 approved agencies.