Hands on Hartford earns funding for Backpack Nutrition Program that feeds 230 city students

After the Hands on Hartford nonprofit was impacted by federal funding cuts, DoorDash stepped up to help ensure that students are fed at all hours of the day.HARTFORD, Conn. — On Friday morning, the Hands on Hartford nonprofit announced new support for students facing food insecurity. Recently, the government cut the federal funding the nonprofit relied on to help provide food for their Backpack Nutrition Program. In response, DoorDash has stepped in to help provide money for children when school cafeterias are closed. Hands on Hartford Executive Director Janet Bermudez explained how the Backpack Nutrition Program works. “We provide a weekly backpack with food, October through June,” said Bermudez. “[It’s] every week through the school year. There’s about eight or nine pounds of food in the backpack.” RELATED: Hands on Hartford helps hundreds of people in the community with food, medical, and housing servicesOatmeal, cereal, granola, mac and cheese and chicken noodle soup are usually what the bags contain. Years ago, the pantry added fresh fruit to the menu but could only provide it twice a month. That was until the pantry received $60,000 in federal funding through the Local Food Purchase Agreement, or LFPA. The LFPA, along with the Local Food for Schools, or LFS, was cancelled by the USDA in 2025, ending more than $1 billion in food purchase assistance for tribes, food banks and schools. “That was our opportunity to say, ‘Here we go, we can provide fruit every single week, a couple of pieces per child,’” said Bermudez. “To hear that funding is no longer available, it really devastated us.” Sign up for the FOX61 newsletters: Morning Forecast, Morning Headlines, Evening HeadlinesTo back the fully fundraised program, the nonprofit is always looking for grants and donations. One of its long-standing partnerships is with DoorDash, which is now giving $10,000 in community credits to the program in response to the federal cuts. “When it comes to fighting hunger, we can all always do more,” said Daniela Michanie, head of public engagement with DoorDash New England. “With the community credits it is entirely up to the organization on how they distribute and use them. They can distribute them directly to families, or use it centrally to stock up for the backpacks.” The $10,000 community credit is essentially a gift card, given to Hands on Hartford to buy the food for students. It’s not the $60,000 the organization once had through the federal grant, but it will still go a long way. RELATED: ‘Everybody Needs Love’ | Hands on Hartford gives holiday meals and toys to hundreds”The more funding we can get allows us to keep what we want to do in place,” said Bermudez. “We refuse to cut the number of children we are currently serving. We actually wish we could do more. We’re doing the best that we can with the resources that we have.” There are seven schools that currently participate in the program. Bermudez s Read More