Highline College students will raise funds next week to support a program that helps feed elementary school students who might otherwise not have food at home.

The Weekend Backpack Program, run by the Des Moines Food Bank and the Des Moines Rotary, sends backpacks full of food home with students who are on free and reduced-price lunches at seven schools in the Highline School District. The program started after local leaders discovered that many of these students might not have any food when they are not in school.

Some 69 percent of students in the district, which is not affiliated with the college, are on free or reduced-price lunches.

Highline College students studying American government will host a panel to discuss the program on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. in Building 7. The panel will feature Highline students and representatives from Des Moines Rotary and from local schools.

A bake sale to benefit the program will follow on Wednesday, Dec. 7, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Union, Building 8. All proceeds will go to support the Weekend Backpack Program.
Highline is located at 2400 S. 240th Street in Des Moines. The Building 7 Lecture Hall is mid-campus and noted as being shaped like a turtle, and the student union is in Building 8, west of Building 7.

The presentation is being presented by American Government students at the college, and a speaker from Renton Rotary. The bake sale will be done by American government students at the college.

For more information, Email aarsnyder@gmail.com or call Aaron Snyder at 206-601-4113.