MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM 4th Annual BackPack Buddies Drive a Success

MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM 4th Annual BackPack Buddies Drive a Success

Caleb (left) & Reagan (children of MIX’s Caroline Bird) help do their part to feed needy children.

Thanks to generous listeners, WRAL-FM MIX 101.5 helped make the weekends better for thousands of area school children. MIX collected over 7,000 lbs of food and over $33,000 in monetary donations at their 4th annual Backpack Buddies event for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle on Thursday, August 20, 2010.

Listeners brought food items to two Triangle locations throughout the day. MIX on-air personalities and staffers manned the drop off stations, loading trucks with food.

“You guys are tops! TOPS!” said Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Executive Director Jill Bullard. “I cannot begin to express our gratitude! Just think of the children who will be fed because of this effort!”

The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Backpack Buddies program provides backpacks filled with food for children in need to take home on the weekends. Because of the free and reduced lunch program in Wake County, those children get up to two hot meals a day, breakfast and lunch, while they are at school. But many go hungry on the weekends. This IFFS program ensures the children will have healthy food to eat during the two days they are away from school each weekend.

“Congratulations on the success of our 4th annual event for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle,” said WRAL-FM Vice President & General Manager Ardie Gregory. “Kudos to the promotion and technical staff for what sounded like a flawless broadcast and to the air staff for painting an accurate picture of the enormous need for this program. Once again the MIX listeners came through. What a great day and what a great group of people, I’m very proud of all of you!”

Thanks to WRAL-FM’s Luanne Lane for these capcom photos.