68 Hours of Hunger is a private, not-for-profit effort to confront the approximately 68 hours of hunger that some school children experience between the free lunch they receive in school on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive in school on Monday morning. This program, established in New Hampshire in 2011, puts nourishing food in the hands of elementary school children to carry them through the weekend. Volunteers purchase the food, pack the bags and deliver them to the offices of the selected elementary school. From there, a school emmployee delivers the food to the classrooms of the individual participating students. The students take the food home on Friday afternoon. The cycle starts again, every week.
Each bag of food costs $10 each week per child and provides two breakfasts, two lunches and three dinners for a child, with some left over to share. Each Thursday, Altrusa members are assisting with the packaging of bags and then the delivery of bags to the elementary school in Tamworth. Members have also committed to donating food items and the club has voted to make a monetary donation toward this worthy cause.
