[Raleigh, NC, September 2021] For the second consecutive year the HIPP Design + Consulting (HIPP) family worked together to collect food items and backpacks for North Raleigh Ministries (NRM) “Backpack Buddies” program ahead of the start of the 2021-2022 school year. “Backpack Buddies” is a program started by North Raleigh Ministries dedicated to providing meals each week for 100+ Triangle elementary school children who have been identified by their school counselors and teachers as "food insecure."
HIPP’s commitment as a company this year was to provide 50 backpacks worth of food by Friday, 9/3/21. In just the first week of collecting donations, HIPP nearly surpassed its 50 backpacks goal and by the end of the collections had doubled its commitment and provided more than 100 backpacks.
The goal last year (2019) was 25 backpacks, which HIPP exceed for a total of 45 backpacks donated). A backpack worth of food provides 6 meals for a child in need.
HIPP's Chase Jenkins, P.E., leads the Backpack Buddies collection.
HIPP Project Leader, Chase Jenkins P.E., spearheaded the project by organizing the collection of physical donations at HIPP’s headquarters in Raleigh as well as organizing donations via PayPal and Venmo that were then utilized to purchase items on behalf of remote team members.
A single backpack consisted of the following items;
Two (2) Individual sized boxed cereal Two (2) Individual sized fruit cups/applesauce One (1) Individual sized snack crackers One (1) Single-serve macaroni and cheese One (1) Single-serve Chef Boyardee One (1) Granola bar Two (2) Individual Sized Ramen noodles
North Raleigh Ministries is committed to providing backpacks year-round.