The Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF) will host a food drive Oct. 26 to support Beach Bags, a program that provides meals and healthy snacks to disadvantaged Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) students who may not have enough to eat over weekends and school vacations.
The food drive will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at two locations: Pembroke Mall (in the Kohl’s parking lot behind Walgreens) and the VBCPS School Administration Building (lobby) located at 2512 George Mason Drive in Virginia Beach.
Donations of individually-sized, shelf-stable food items are welcomed in all quantities. Specifically, each Beach Bag contains:
- Individual cereal boxes or oatmeal packages;
- Single portion, shelf-stable main course items such as ravioli, spaghetti and meatballs, chunky soups, beef stew, chicken and dumplings, tuna or chunk chicken or macaroni and cheese;
- Fruit cups and/or 100 percent juice boxes that are 4 oz. or larger;
- Shelf-stable 8 oz. milk cartons (juice box size); and
- Snack items such as granola bars, cereal bars, raisins, pretzels or snack crackers.
Tax-deductible donations through the VBEF will also be accepted at the food drive and throughout the year at the School Administration Building or online at www.vbef.org/donate. All monetary donations are used entirely to purchase food for the program. No administrative costs are taken from donations given to the Beach Bags program, which has been in existence since 2009.
For more information about the Beach Bags program, visit vbschools.com/beachbags, email beachbags@vbschools.com or call the Office of Community Engagement at 757-263-1936.