In general, monetary donations go a lot further to answering the needs of the students in the Backpacks Program. Here are some reasons why:
 

• We have no overhead or administrative salaries. 100% of the funds go directly to the Backpacks Program. We are volunteer run, and under the auspices of Culver City Council PTA to whom we must account for all expenditures and donations

• We have a specific menu of foods that must be shelf-stable and non-perishable. With donations we can purchase exactly what we need when we need it.

• We cannot accept any items in glass containers for the student's safety.

• By using donations to purchase food it gives us the ability to shop at food wholesalers and big box stores where we can purchase items in bulk and at a discount.

• With direct purchases we can more easily answer the needs of our students and families. For instance, our families prefer black or pinto beans as opposed to kidney, red, or other types of beans.

• Sometimes well-meaning donors give us large containers of food such as 20 oz peanut butter or 5 lb bags of rice. These items are too heavy to go into an elementary school student's backpack, and we do not have the ability to package them into smaller quantities.

• We have very limited space in our food pantry, so we really only have space to hold sufficient quantities of specific foods. It is much easier to track, pack and maintain stocks of specific foods in ready-to-use, backpack friendly packaging, rather than trying to deal with a wide range of foods and packaging.  

• With direct donations we can more easily adjust our purchases to add or take out items, and to purchase when we are getting low in specific products.