10/08/2026
Most folks around Powhatan know Bobby Fulcher from Aerations Plus. Fewer know he and Brenda also started Backpacks of Love.
Back in 2011, Bobby was at a Rotary convention and heard about a program that sent food home with kids for the weekend. He grew up knowing what it's like to not have enough to eat, so the idea stuck. He came home, sat down with Powhatan County school administrators, pulled together a group of community leaders, and got to work.
Here's how it works. For a lot of kids, school meals are the ones they can count on. When Friday afternoon hits, that goes away until Monday. So every week, volunteers pack bags of food at the pantry here in Powhatan and get them to local schools. The schools quietly hand them out to the kids who need them. Proteins, fruit, drinks, snacks, and breakfast for the weekend.
What started in Powhatan now reaches kids across Central Virginia. That's more than 1,500 backpacks every week and over three million meals since day one.
There's still more to do. More than 1,000 kids in the area are still going hungry on weekends.
If you want to help, you can donate, volunteer, run a food drive, or sponsor a backpack for a year. Everything you need is at backpacksoflove.org.
We're proud of what Bobby and Brenda built, and proud to call this community home.