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allinger_120Q Country's Chris Allinger took to the airwaves earlier this month to confirm that he will be strapping on his backpack and walking more than 100 miles for a good cause for the third year.  For five days starting September 8th, Allinger is going to be "Walking the Country" for the Food Bank of the Southern Tier's BackPack ProgramTM.  Allinger will also be performing his morning show on the road during the week of his walk, and plans to fill his backpack with donations.

Allinger explains, "The community agrees with me that no child should ever go hungry and they show that agreement with money in my backpack."

The Food Bank's BackPack Program™ provides healthy, child-friendly, and easy to prepare foods to children at risk of hunger over weekends and holiday breaks when children do not have access to free or reduced price school meal programs. Each Friday children in need receive a bag of simple, easy to prepare food to get them through weekends and holidays.  These children, who rely on school lunch programs for sustenance, would otherwise go hungry when school is out.

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"The route this year is very similar to last year's route.  We'll be kicking it off at Cornell, and for five days, wind our way around to each community in Tompkins County ending in downtown Ithaca", Allinger says, adding, "we'll also have a link for secure donations on our website."  As it has been for the last two years, Allinger's only goal is three dollars from every person he meets on the road.  He explains, "It costs three dollars for every backpack the Food Bank provides, so every three dollars I get means another child will eat for a weekend".

Each week, over 11,000 individuals visit a hunger-relief member agency served by the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. In 2013, the Food Bank distributed 9,718,816 pounds of food to 162 member agencies in Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties.

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