A graduate of Memorial High School with a weighted GPA of 5.52, Cole Hranicky is pursuing a bachelor of business administration in finance at Texas Tech University. Actively involved with various community organizations, Cole Hranicky has volunteered to organize food items and prepare goods for delivery with the Houston Food Bank.
In addition to operating a community kitchen, the Houston Food Bank strives to meet the needs of the nearly 25 percent of southeast Texas children who experience food insecurity at home. The organization’s efforts include the Backpack Buddy program for children who receive most of their food from free or reduced-price school breakfast and lunches. During weekends and school breaks, thousands of these children are at risk for hunger.
To combat food insecurity in school-aged children, the Backpack Buddy program collaborates with school districts to fill backpacks with nutritious, child-friendly snacks for students who receive the backpacks on Friday at school and return them empty on Monday. In 2020, the program provided roughly 2.5 million meals for children in need.
