Six years in, Weekend Bag Program provides nearly 100,000 meals to local students in need
Newton High School graduate’s nonprofit continues to pack and distribute 83 “weekend bags” weekly to fight juvenile food insecurity in Sussex County.
| 09 Jun 2022 | 04:39
Olivia and Magdalene packing weekend bags out of their basement. The Costello girls’ nonprofit, created by their older sister Isobel, provides food and hygiene products to over 80 local students each week.
Back in 2016, just a couple of weeks into her freshman year, Newton High School’s Isobel Costello noticed a trend in conversation among her peers: there were multiple students going home every weekend with little to no food or hygiene products. Motivated to help others, she created The Weekend Bag Program, working with Sussex County schools to provide weekend meals and hygiene products to children in need.
Upon graduating, Isobel passed the baton to her younger sisters, Magdalen and Olivia Costello, who continue to fundraise and pack the bags each week.
“With all the problems in the world today, juvenile food insufficiency should not be one of them,” said Olivia, a sophomore at Newton High School.
Weekend warriors
To date, the Costello girls’ efforts have distributed 97,389 meals and 49,350 hygiene items to Sussex County kids in need.
Working out of their basement every Saturday and Sunday, the Costello girls pack two different sets of bags – one for Sussex County students facing food insecurity, and another for local children in the shelter or foster system. The weekend bags include two dinners, two lunches, two breakfasts, two snacks, two drinks, one fruit, one vegetable, three hygiene products, and pocket tissues. The bags for students in shelters or foster care are packed with four hygiene items, two snacks, and two drinks for each child.
Volunteers help Olivia and Magdalen pack and distribute the care packages to schools across the county, including but not limited to: Newton Pre School at Camp Auxilium, Merriam Avenue Elementary School, Halsted Middle School, Sussex County Charter School for Technology, Sussex County Technical High School, Hardyston Township Elementary School, Hardyston Township Middle School, Montague Township School, Stillwater Township School, and Sussex County Community College.
“The Weekend Bag Program Inc. team works with a school liaison at each school who identifies which students would benefit most from receiving a weekend bag,” explained Olivia. The team also keeps the identities of those who receive the bags anonymous.
During the 2022 school year, The Weekend Bag Program provided 83 students with much-needed meals and hygiene products each week.
“We are helping students just like me and my sisters who struggle with a situation that none of my peers should ever have to struggle with,” added Olivia.
How you can help
The Weekend Bag Program is a registered 501(c)3, and distributes bags throughout the 10-month school year, including during the holidays. Fundraising is done year-round to collect both monetary and product donations from the Sussex County community.
Monetary donations can be made via:
• The Weekend Bag Program’s Paypal: @weekendbagprogram.
• Mailing a check to: The Weekend Bag Program Inc. at PO Box 205, Andover, NJ 07821.
To shop and send food and hygiene products directly to the nonprofit, visit The Weekend Bag Program’s Amazon Smile Charity List at: https://amzn.to/3QaNA6O.
To volunteer, contact Olivia and the Weekend Bag Team by emailing: theweekendbagprogram@gmail.com.
