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Become a Community Buddy

Your organization can make a direct, weekly impact on food-insecure children across Metro Atlanta by becoming a Community Buddy through our turnkey service program.

This is a hands-on, high-impact way to reinforce the values your members or employees live every day.

What Is a Community Buddy?

Community Buddies help us deliver weekend meals consistently throughout the school year. As a Community Buddy, your organization will:

Get paired with a local school in need
Receive shelf-stable food from Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta
Pack weekend meal bags for children
Deliver the bags to the school each week
Participate in cost-sharing support for program sustainability

Eligibility:
Organizations must be a 501(c)(3) or have an adjacent foundation associated with their for-profit business.

How the Program Works

1. School Pairing

We match your organization with a local school for the entire school year.
The school counselor collects permission slips from parents, determines the number of participating children, and we finalize the weekly service volume based on both school and organizational capacity.

2. Creating the Backpack Buddies Club

Your organization forms a Backpack Buddies Club to run the weekly service activity.

BPBMA provides:

Support in developing internal promotional content
Guidance to recruit members and encourage signups
A clear blueprint for how the Club operates

You designate an internal Champion to lead the project each week.

3. Ordering & Picking Up Food

The Champion is trained on our simple online ordering system.
Food is ordered by the number of children served and follows a standardized menu template.
Food pickup occurs at our Dunwoody warehouse:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays | 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (every half hour).
Your team unloads the cases at your location and stores them securely until packing day.
BPBMA advises on any additional supplies (bags, bins, carts, etc.)

4. Weekly Packing Sessions

On your designated Club day:

Food and supplies are brought to the packing area
The Champion sets up the packing line
Members pack weekend meal bags following BPBMA guidelines
Completed bags are moved to storage until the weekly delivery
You may pack for one week or multiple weeks at a time, based on capacity

BPBMA ensures continuity, even during holidays or schedule interruptions.

5. Delivering Bags to School

You and the school agree on a weekly delivery day and time
A team member transports the packed bags to the school
Bags may be delivered in personal cars or company vehicles
School personnel meet your team at the designated entrance to receive the bags

No school entry is required unless permitted by the school.

6. Funding the Program

BPBMA helps your organization build a program budget that includes:

Supplies needed for weekly operations
A cost-sharing contribution to support food procurement, administration, and overhead

Food is never charged
Your contribution helps us provide food at no cost to children while maintaining efficiency across all Community Buddies.

Why Become a Community Buddy?

High-impact service for local children
A structured, repeatable program that runs throughout the school year
A meaningful way to engage employees, members, or volunteers
Turnkey support from BPBMA at every step
A sustainable model that multiplies your organization’s community impact

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