A recent grant and upcoming fundraiser will help a local group roll a strike for nutrition and better grades in Altoona elementary schools.

While lunch and breakfast programs provide meals at schools weekdays, the Mountain Lion BackPack Program distributes backpacks full of food to be eaten on weekends to students in need on Fridays. Studies show that children who do not get proper nutrition daily have less focus in school, program director Heather Little said, something the program hopes to prevent.

“It’s not so much about hungry people as it is about the kids doing well in school and growing up to be successful,” Little said.

The Mountain Lion BackPack Program is a part of a national initiative run by Feeding America. Each backpack contains two breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and drinks for Saturdays and Sundays.

Little and her husband, Jim, started the program locally at the beginning of the 2011 school year. There were initially 100 elementary schoolchildren who received weekly backpacks of food at Wright Elementary School, Little said. Since then, the program has expanded to two schools with 400 students receiving backpacks of food during the school year.

Earlier this month, the group received a $25,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program. The grant will allow the organization to expand services this year to another elementary school and 250 other students, raising the total to three schools and more than 600 children.

More money for backpacks will be raised Sunday, when the organization will host the first Bowling for BackPacks event. The fundraiser runs from 1 to 4 p.m. at Pleasant Valley Recreation Center. A team of five bowlers can participate for $500. Besides bowling, participation includes a meal and raffles for items donated by local businesses.

“It’s another example of how everywhere we go, the community has supported us,” Little said.

So far, Little said eleven teams have signed up. Anyone still wishing to participate can register a team at the beginning of the event.