Bags of Hope

Bags of Hope seeks to bring hope to the Lake Norman and greater Charlotte area by supplying free weekend food provisions to students experiencing food insecurity. 

Bags of Hope is directly addressing the chronic and increasing issue of childhood food insecurity by supplying weekend food bags to 800 students in 34 schools in the LKN & Greater Charlotte area each weekend of the school year. 1 out of 6 students in Mecklenburg County live in food insecure homes. While students receive free/reduced school lunch, they may fail to find adequate nutrition at home. We provide each child all meals & snacks between Friday afternoon and Monday morning when students return to school. Our goal in providing weekend food is to help alleviate the physical and cognitive implications resulting from food insecurity. 

Bags of Hope’s weekend food program has been active and effectively working with local schools since 2017. 48.6% of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ 143,000 students receive free meals but may or may not have food on the weekend. Evidence of this need is found in client survey data; 82% of families reported it is always or sometimes difficult to feed everyone in their home; 59% said the backpack food was the main source of weekend meals for their child. A social worker recently shared, “Bags of Hope was a crucial part of my work here at First Ward. What you’re doing is great and vital.”

Our warehouse is located on Bailey Rd. in Cornelius, where food is received, sorted, packed, stored and prepared for distribution. Nicole Fiehler, Program Coordinator and Ashley Nydish, Founder & Board President, oversee the daily operations at Bags of Hope and are supported by additional Board members fulfilling volunteer roles, as well as an average of 150 community volunteers helping each week. We host four community food drives annually to help ensure students have adequate amounts of food over long breaks from school. We have strong community support from service groups and businesses who host food drives and donate food items. 

We are a partner of Second Harvest Food Bank and we receive grant funding and other major donations from foundations and local businesses.