City staff volunteers for BackPack Program

For the past five years the Tea Area School District has made use of Feeding South Dakota’s BackPack Program to help the district’s students in need of food. Feeding America and Feeding South Dakota fill an important void with the national BackPack Program. This program provides at-risk children with nutritious, easy-to-prepare foods during weekends and holidays when school is not in session. Food is distributed through the schools because of their relationship with students, easy access and safe environments.

Feeding South Dakota distributes more than 3,400 packages of food each week to children in the Sioux Falls school district and 10 surrounding communities, including Tea Area. Through this program, more than 5,200 children statewide are given a greater opportunity to learn and grow.

While these programs receive partial funding from local United Way organizations, there is still a significant cost in providing these weekend food packages. A single food package costs $4.50. It costs $150 to feed a child for an entire school year.

Volunteers are a vital part of the program, and for the past several years, Tea city staff has taken time to volunteer for the BackPack Program. Volunteers representing Tea on February 21 included City of Tea council members, staff and their family members, pictured above.