Getting to wear jeans on Friday probably doesn’t sound like the biggest thing, but, thanks to the employees of Peoples Bank, it meant a large donation to Backpack Buddies to support their program of helping Lawrence County children.

To get to wear jeans on Friday, the employees of the bank donate a set sum every week and then that money is put into a fund called Jeans for Hunger Awareness.

This year, they were able to donate $9,088 to Backpack Buddies.

“It is amazing,” said Jodie Hunt, Backpack Buddies program coordinator. She hadn’t gotten a heads-up about how much the volunteer group was getting and was at a loss for words at first. “It is one of the biggest donations we have ever received and it will be such a huge blessing to Backpack Buddies and the families we help.”

Ellie Mullens, Ironton branch manager of Peoples Bank, explained that, if you see an associate wearing jeans, that means they are participating and giving back.

“This was a great opportunity to give to a local, Jodi Hunt here in Ironton. She is great and she is doing a lot of good for the community,” Mullens said. “And we are nothing without our customers and our community. We are very excited, it helps us to know that we, although, yes, we give these donations, to see it happen in our community with someone we know, with a non-profit we support, it’s awesome and rewarding for all of us.”

She said that the associates also volunteer to help local organizations and they were excited by helping Backpack Buddies when the group does things like when they provide school supplies at Dawson-Bryant.

“At Peoples Bank, we are always trying to volunteer to get into the community, get our faces out there and just promote doing a better job,” Mullens said. “We are looking forward to helping her with that this year.”

Peoples Bank has been participating in Jeans for Hunger Awareness since April of 2020, but has promoted hunger awareness since the bank established.

Backpack Buddies has been around since October of 2012 and began their mission to fill a backpack full of food for children to eat on the weekend when they didn’t have access to food at school. Over the years, they have expanded to help with school supplies, clothes, hygiene items and a have emergency food boxes. They help kids in 20 schools in Lawrence County and serve about 700 kids a week.

Hunt said all the money they get goes for kids and Backpack Buddies is 100 percent funded by grants and donations with all the work done by volunteers including her.

“Everything that comes into Backpack Buddies goes right back out into the community,” Hunt said. “We have about 30 volunteers.”

To donate or volunteer, call Hunt at 740-534-3550