Forsyth County Junior Service League hosts backpack, food drive at Walmart

Forsyth County Junior Service League will collect school supplies and shelf-stable food items at Walmart Supercenter, 3655 Browns Bridge Rd, Cumming, GA 30028, on Sunday, June 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Donated school supplies will finish backpacks for the league’s Pack to the Future initiative, which provides 350 brand-new backpacks filled with grade-level school supplies. The children receiving them come from families that rely on food assistance and are identified by Ministries of Grace / Meals by Grace’s social worker, with some referrals coming through the Forsyth County School District. Those students are at risk of arriving to school unequipped to learn.

Fueling Forsyth is the league’s program that stocks dry pantries in Forsyth County public schools with nonperishable goods. One set of items helps complete a backpack for a child, and another set helps keep school pantry shelves stocked for families who need help stretching their grocery budgets.

Meals by Grace says more than 13,000 people in Forsyth and Dawson counties experienced food insecurity in 2019, including more than 9,000 children.

Forsyth County Junior Service League is a women-led, all-volunteer, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in Forsyth County, and Pack to the Future is its signature service project in its founding year. The league is inviting the community to shop and support the drive by purchasing school supplies and shelf-stable food items, with donations feeding both the backpack project and school pantry program. Questions can be sent to info@forsythcountyjsl.org.