Aloha Backpack Buddies bags prepared for Maui Head Start preschoolers

Members of Maui Economic Opportunity’s Head Start packed bags of food for Head Start preschoolers as part of the Maui Food Bank Aloha Backpack Buddies program.

The collaboration took place on March 24 during the three-day Kūhiō Day weekend.

The Backpack program assists children as young as preschool through college ages with meals for the weekends without cost. The pre-made child-friendly food packages are ordered and shipped in by the Maui Food Bank, who then delivers cases of the food bags to the MEO office in Wailuku on the first Thursday of each month. Blue reusable drawstring bags are offered to help families transport the food home.

MEO has participated in the Backpack program since February 2021, and currently distributes food packages to students at 10 different Head Start sites, including one on the island of Molokaʻi.