School Food Centers
Lowcountry Food Bank develops and implements community-based solutions to address hunger, improve food security, and provide access to nutritious food.
Feeding Children and Families
Research shows that children with regular access to nutritious food have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and improved school behavior. At Lowcountry Food Bank, we work to alleviate childhood hunger in coastal South Carolina through a range of innovative programs.
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.
Resources for School Food Center Partners
Food and Program Ordering
Reporting
School Food Center Forms and Documents
Resources for all School Food Centers Partners
Resources for the BackPack Buddies Program
- BackPack Buddies Policies and Procedures Manual
BackPack Buddies Referral Form - BackPack Buddies Opt In & Out
- BackPack Buddies Distribution Tracker (Optional)
Resources for School Pantry Box Program
- School Pantry Policies & Procedures Manual
School Pantry Distribution Tracker (Optional)
Resources for School Market Program
- School Market Policies & Procedures Manual
- Refrigerator-Freezer Temperature Log
- School Market Flow
- How to Stock Your Market
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
Coming Soon!
