Heart of Stark: 'Birdie Bags' provide meals for Alliance students

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Since it began serving the school district two years ago, the Ben Curtis Family Foundation has provided 9,000 Birdie Bag food and toiletry packages for students in Alliance City Schools.

The Alliance Board of Education recognized Ben and Candace Curtis, the founders of the Ben Curtis Family Foundation, during a recent board meeting in recognition of the milestone and for impacting the lives of so many families.

Ben Curtis, an accomplished golfer who appeared on the PGA Tour and won the British Open in 2003, named the Birdie Bags after his love for the game of golf. Ben and Candace created the foundation to help alleviate the food insecurity many students experience by providing nearly a week’s worth of nonperishable foods and toiletries for families in need.

Currently, the organization serves 12 schools in 10 districts in Stark, Summit and Portage counties and distributed nearly 50,000 bags in 2021.

Each Birdie Bag consists of six meals, six snacks and toiletry items and often includes foods like Hamburger Helper, mac and cheese, spaghetti, ramen noodles, tuna fish and more. The bags are given to students at no cost to the family, and older students can request two or three bags to help feed younger siblings.

More so, the bags are designed to send a message to every child: "Don’t worry. Someone cares. Focus on your responsibilities and become the best version of yourself in school and beyond." That’s how Ben describes the bigger mission of the foundation – providing food and supplies as the first step to empowering students to succeed.

"The Ben Curtis Family Foundation plays a big role in alleviating food insecurities for students in Alliance City Schools," said Shawn Jackson, Alliance City School’s director of secondary education. "Through the generosity of Ben and Candace Curtis, ACS has been given 500 Birdie bags a month since April 2020. The Birdie Bags have provided students with 54,000 meals and 54,000 snacks."

To learn more about the Ben Curtis Family Foundation and its impact through the Birdie Bag Program, visit www.bencurtisfoundation.org.

The Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals through a variety of charitable funds and strategic initiatives. Ranked in the top 10% of community foundations in the country, the foundation and its family of donors have granted $215 million to nonprofits since 1963. Learn more at www.starkcf.org.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Heart of Stark: 'Birdie Bags' provide meals for Alliance students