August 28, 2024

A Heartwarming History of Benevolist.org

1995—A "Backpack" program is conceived by a school nurse in Little Rock Arkansas concerned about the hungry children who were visiting her clinic.

2000—Feeding America picks up the concept for replication of the program by its member food banks.

2001—The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (Food Shuttle) in NC joins the Feeding America Food Bank Network.

2010—The Food Shuttle is distributing 824 bags weekly to 44 schools.

2016—Cari Newton volunteers to help organize a Backpack Buddies program through her church and through her experience conceives the idea for Benevolist.org.

2024—The Food Shuttle delivers Backpack Buddies bags to nearly 2,500 children each week, with plans to serve 3,000 children in 71 elementary schools weekly in 2024; They distribute kid-friendly, pre-packed bags with healthy, nutritious food for the weekend.

“When asking a 1st grade student what type of food he ate on the weekend, he replied ‘oh… we don’t eat on the weekend.’ When I asked him if he would like to be a ‘BackPack Buddy’ and explained the program to him, he started jumping up and down with an excited look on his face and exclaimed ‘YES, YES, YES!’”

— A Backpack Buddies Coordinator

Running an item collection drive?

Benevolist.org has all the tools you need to turn your drive digital, because donating to the causes you care about should be easy.

Learn how to start your first drive today!

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Drive Templates

For Back-to-School drives, check out our "School Supplies and Education" template options. It’s a pre-populated drive that you can add to your dashboard with one click and then customize it any way you like. Super easy!

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Sharing Your Drive

For sharing your item collection drives with your support network, jump into our Media Kit and grab a social media post or email template that you can copy, paste and customize to suit your organization's needs. And don’t forget to send along a link to our Donor Walkthrough Video, that gives your donors a step-by-step guide on how to quickly and easily donate items to your drive!

View the Media Kit

CEO REFLECTIONS

From the time I was a very young girl, I felt destined to help many people in need. Throughout my life, I tried my best to help others, but it wasn’t until I volunteered to help with a Backpack Buddies program that the lightbulb in my heart and mind finally lit up! Through many mistakes, naysayers, a serious medical diagnosis and a pandemic, I am now living out my destiny. It took a long time and many angels who stepped in my path at just the right time to create and launch Benevolist.org - and it’s beginning to help so many people in need! My reflection on this... If you feel destined to do something in your life, don’t ever give up.

Together we can make a difference!

Cari Newton, Founder & CEO

"Our BackPack Buddies Program provides consistent meals to students on the weekend, bridging meal gaps many students in our community face, Not only does this help students come to school ready to learn, but supports family's experiencing budgetary restraints and provides comfort to school staff knowing their students were fed over the weekend."

About Inter-Faith Food Shuttle

Our vision is a hunger-free community. Our mission is We FEED our neighbors, TEACH self-sufficiency, GROW healthy foods, and CULTIVATE innovate approaches to end hunger.

Learn More About IFFS

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Thank You to Our Partners!