Choose your Fun!

Net proceeds from the Frederick Summer Solstice 8K benefit the Frederick chapter of Blessings in a Backpack. The Frederick Steeplechasers donated race proceeds of $19,533 from the 2023 race, bringing the total since the inaugural race in 2016 to $159,055. 

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Blessings in a Backpack, Frederick Chapter is a local chapter of the national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Blessings mobilizes communities, individuals, and resources to provide food on the weekends and over school breaks for school-age children who might otherwise go hungry when school meals are unavailable. 

Blessings provides weekend backpacks of food to children who depend on school meals as their primary source of nourishment Monday through Friday. Every Friday, more than 18 million American children leave school uncertain if they will have food to eat over the weekend. That’s 65 hours from lunch in school on Friday to breakfast Monday morning; 65 hours without proper nutrition. 65 hours!

In Frederick County, more than 12,500 children (28% of all students) are fed by the Free and Reduce-priced Meal program every week, but “What do they do on the weekends?” The food provided by Blessings offers a greater opportunity for these children to return to school better prepared to participate and learn. Blessings, Frederick Chapter currently serves 4,200+ children in 30 locations. It costs only $130 to feed a single child each weekend for an entire school year. The more money we raise, the more children we can feed.

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