The Town of Hempstead and Island Food Harvest on Friday kicked off the Kids Weekend Backpack Collection Drive to help provide food to children in need.

Jhoanna Perez, of Inwood, say she and her six kids are struggling right now. She's trying to take care of her kids, four of whom attend school in Inwood, on her own while her husband is hospitalized amid a battle with cancer.

Perez says Friday's backpack and food drive provided her with some much-needed good news and relief.

"A lot of these children are facing food insecurity on the weekends," says Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen. "So they get the free meals at school, and sometimes that is the only meal these children get."

Gillen says their solution was to put food inside the kids' backpacks.

"They have the backpack so they don't have to be embarrassed," the supervisor says. "It doesn't look like they're taking food home, it just looks like they're taking their books home or reading materials home."

The backpack drive will last for two weeks. Donations can be made to town hall, old town hall or at the town office on Franklin Avenue.