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Aurora, CO – One in seven children in Colorado is unsure about where they will get their next meal, and on the weekends, many of these children do not have access to food when they are away from school.

At the 2024 Annual Membership Meeting, the Colorado Livestock Association (CLA) donated $2,500 to the program to support the mission of producing and donating beef sticks to backpack programs that feed food-insecure children in Colorado on the weekends. CLA has partnered with the program since its beginning in 2019, and in just five years, the Beef Sticks for Backpacks has donated over 2.5 million beef sticks and is currently distributing 20,000 beef sticks across Colorado.

Kenny Rogers (left) and Zach Riley (right) present a check to Dan Byers (middle) director of the Beef Sticks for Backpacks program to help fight childhood hunger in Colorado.

‘Backpack Programs’ are independent, non-profit organizations with the mission of putting together bags of shelf-stable food that they can send home with kids experiencing weekend food insecurity in their community. Backpack programs face rising food costs and the challenge of finding shelf-stable food that is nutritious and something that kids will eat. The program works directly with backpack programs across the state to ensure they are getting enough beef sticks to put one in each of their bags of shelf-stable food each week.

The beef sticks are produced by students in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University. Every dollar donated to Beef Sticks for Backpacks helps produce and donate three beef sticks to backpack programs in Colorado that help feed hungry children on the weekends. Help feed hungry kids in Colorado the protein they deserve! To donate to the Beef Sticks for Backpacks Program, go online here: https://www.beefsticks.org/donate/

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