Walnut Rotary to host cookout to benefit Buddy Bags for Bureau Valley students

The Walnut Rotary Club announced a portion of the proceeds from the club’s Sept. 14 cookout will help provide Buddy Bags to Bureau Valley Elementary students.

Buddy Bags, a program administered by Trinity Lutheran Church in Manlius, in conjunction with local churches and community members and Bureau Valley schools, provides weekend packs of food for students with food insecurities. Each child receives breakfast, lunch and a snack for each day of every weekend throughout the school year. Additionally, the program provides boxes filled with food for the winter holidays and spring break.

During the 2023-24 school year, the program served 79 Bureau Valley students from 48 families. The program anticipates serving about the same number of students this school year.

The large number of children participating in the program, coupled with the frequency of the Buddy Bag deliveries and the ever-increasing cost of food to supply the program, means it costs a great deal to provide for the children who might not otherwise have food to eat over the weekend or during extended school breaks. The price tag for the 2023-24 school year – not including the Christmas and spring break food boxes - exceeded $15,000. While the program has applied for grants and donations from local citizens and businesses have been generous, the need for funds remains critical.

The Rotary Club of Walnut encourages the public to support the Buddy Bag program that serves many area Bureau Valley students by participating in the club’s last cookout of 2024. Rotarians will be serving a special additional treat, along with the usual pork sandwiches, brats and hot dogs.

The cookout will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Veterans’ Memoria. Free-will donations will be accepted. A portion of all donations received will go to the Buddy Bag program.