Grant boosts Charleroi’s Harvest Bounty program

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

The Harvest Bounty program in the Charleroi Area School District has received a large grant to continue its mission.

The program, offered through the “No Kid Hungry” initiative, supplies food to more than 200 students in the district on weekends and holiday breaks. 

The grant was announced last week by officials from UPMC Health Plan and the Department of Community during a similar grant presentation to the newly rebranded Charleroi Area Public Library.

Through the state Neighborhood Assistance Program, a tax credit program that encourages businesses to invest in projects that improve distressed areas, UPMC Health Plan awarded the nonprofit $30,000.

Harvest Bounty started in 2014 when teachers collected and distributed food to 40 middle school students on weekends.

The elementary school was added in 2015, and the program now serves 240 students while they are out of school. 

It takes hundreds of dollars each week to fill bags with nonperishable breakfast and lunch food, fruit and snacks that students take home each Friday.

Donations from residents, organizations, churches and businesses are used to sustain the program. 

The items packed are healthy and simple foods that can be easily prepared by children during the weekend.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March and schools announced they would be required to do virtual learning for the remainder of the year, teacher Kathy Franks, who helps to lead the program, knew students would need Harvest Bounty more than ever before. 

“There is a huge gap on the weekends and long breaks when students are not in school, and Harvest Bounty stands in for that gap and for those families,” she said. “We are truly dedicated to ensuring children in the Charleroi Area School District don’t go hungry, but we never anticipated that we would be faced with a global pandemic.”

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