Hagerstown Area Religious Council

Micah's Backpack is a partnership with Washington County Public Schools to provide nutritious meals for food insecure children each weekend of the school year. The bags include two dinners, two lunches, and two breakfasts, fruit, snacks and often 100% fruit juice and shelf-stable milk. Volunteers from 48 churches and organizations pack the bags and deliver them to schools each week, and schools distribute them to the students. Micah's Backpack has grown tremendously in the past two years - more than 16% - and is now serving 1,237 children each week of the school year in 37 schools (80% of schools in Washington County, MD).

In 2023 we did not allocate the costs of maintaining an office or the employment of an Executive Director to our two main programs.

Donated funds were passed through the Council of Churches for the following programs that are under the umbrella of our organization: Refugee Welcome Network (refugee resettlement) served 13 families - 50 total people - in 2023 with housing, household goods, food, transportation, and connection to other local services; 5 scholarships ranging from $1,500-$5,000 went to racially minoritized students pursuing degrees in education through the Equity in Education scholarship, which was managed by our local Community Foundation; and additional funds were donated and redistributed to area food pantries.