To alleviate the burden of food insecurity and promote community well-being by providing children of Cambria County with healthy and sustainable food options on the weekends.
For 10 years the Cambria County Backpack Project has been providing weekend meals to children.
In 2013, the Johnstown Backpack Project was started by a handful of volunteers distributing weekend food to children attending the Greater Johnstown School District. As the program expanded to serve more children in more schools, the name was changed to the Cambria County Backpack Project.
Improvements to the program have included a nutritionally upgraded menu, healthy school snack pantries, Youth Café Markets, weekend food bags extended into the summer months, a second packing and distribution site established to serve our most rural communities, and becoming its own independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Today, the Cambria County Backpack Project serves over 600 children each school year, in ten school districts and multiple partner agencies across the county.
The CCBP is a program that works with different partners to help provide weekend bags of food to children who are chronically hungry in Cambria County.
The CCBP is funded solely by grants and donations.
In each bag we provide two single- serve Ramen noodle cups, two slim jims, two single-serve Chef Boyardee meals, two vegetable cups, an apple, a fruit cup, shelf-stable milk, shelf-stable yogurt, two granola bars, a cereal bowl, a pudding cup, and a whole grain snack.
Once the bags are packed on Monday, representatives from each partner school/agency come pick them up their bins throughout the week. From there, the bags are given to the children in a discreet way and taken home for the weekend.
Reach out to your school district’s guidance counselor or CCBP representative for an application and referral.
Participation in CCBP is confidential. The only people that will know that you participate is your child’s school counselors and the CCBP staff.
Your child will receive six meals, in each bag with food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Saturday and Sunday.
