05/23/2016
SIS alumna receives a 2015-2016 Jefferson Award
Linda Lafferty, a graduate of the MLIS program and retired Pittsburgh Public School librarian, recently received a Jefferson Award for her work with the Blessings in a Backpack organization. The organization, which was founded in 2005, provides bags of food to elementary school children to ensure that they don’t go hungry on the weekend.
“Children today are already facing so many challenges,” said Lafferty. “I don’t want hunger to be one of them.”
In 2011, Lafferty began the first Pittsburgh chapter of the organization. Initially providing 190 bags each week to students at Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg, Lafferty and her volunteers now distribute bags to more than 550 students across the Wilkinsburg School District.
The Jefferson Awards is a national recognition system from the Jefferson Awards Foundation that recognizes outstanding individuals for their contributions to the community. The local program is presented by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Highmark, and BNY Mellon.
Click here to learn more about the Blessings in a Backpack program.
