School Food Centers

Lowcountry Food Bank works alongside communities across coastal South Carolina to ensure children and families have consistent access to the nutritious food they need to thrive. Through strong community partnerships and innovative solutions, we help address hunger while working toward a healthier, more food-secure Lowcountry.

Feeding Children and Families

When children have reliable access to nutritious food, they’re better able to learn, participate, and thrive at school. They are more likely to attend regularly, perform better academically, and be ready to engage in the classroom. At Lowcountry Food Bank, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to come to school ready to learn—not worried about where their next meal will come from. That’s why we partner with schools and communities across coastal South Carolina to connect children and families with nutritious food and resources. Together, we can help remove hunger as a barrier to learning and give students the foundation they need to succeed.

Our School Food Center team partners with schools across the Lowcountry to address barriers to food access for children and families. We do this through the following models:

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A School Market is a school-based pantry set up as a neighbor-choice model for a market-style shopping experience. Students and their families can select their own dry goods, protein, dairy and fresh produce based on their own’s family’s needs. Food distributions happen on an as-needed basis throughout the week, while some markets stay open after school hours and during the summer to support families outside of the school day.

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School Pantry boxes address household food insecurity through the distribution of food boxes to students and their families. The boxes of shelf-stable pantry items are distributed to families monthly around PTA meetings, school events, student pick-up times, or as needed.

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BackPack Buddies addresses the weekend hunger gap by providing children with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food to take home on weekends and school vacations.
Kid-friendly bags of shelf-stable food are distributed weekly during the school year by teachers, nurses, parent advocates, counselors, and others within the schools.

Interested In Becoming a School Food Center Partner?

Please review the program-specific Memorandum of Understanding and Policies & Procedures:

Memorandum of Understanding

Policies and Procedures

Ready to become a School Food Center partner with Lowcountry Food Bank? Complete the application below to get started.

School Food Center Application

Resources for School Food Center Partners

Food and Program Ordering

Reporting

School Food Center Forms & Documents

Resources for all School Food Centers Partners

SFC Site Visit Monitoring Form

Resources for the BackPack Buddies Program

Resources for School Pantry Box Program

Resources for School Market Program

Training

→ View a step-by-step Registration Guide for The Online Learning Center.

→ Food Safety Training for All School Food Center Programs
Feel free to share this with any of your organization’s volunteers and staff. This training is accessible all year. Food Safety certification must be completed annually for school partners.

→ School Year Training

→ Additional Online Training for School Market Partners

Additional Resources

Resources to Assist Families

Visit our Nutrition Hub to access Lowcountry Food Bank recipes, education videos, trainings, pantry support resources, and more information on our Nutrition Education programs offered to partners.