Food Bank in a Backpack

The Food Connection began providing backpacks filled with two days worth of food weekly throughout the school year to 50 students at Tacoma’s McCarver Elementary Schools in January 2008. Due to tremendous community support the program has since expanded to serve 430 students at 14 Tacoma elementary, middle and high schools. The backpack program represents a new and innovative way of providing families with food resources to meet the basic nutritional needs of children.

Tony Johnson of Rogers Terminal and Shipping presents Food Connection director Kevin Glackin-Coley with a $15,000 check to support the Backpack Program.

Kid-Friendly Meals

Counselors at the schools identify those students most at risk of hunger. The Food Connection delivers backpacks filled with six kid-friendly meals to the schools for pick-up every Friday during the school year. The students return the backpacks to the school each Monday so they can be filled for the following weekend.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are now included in the backpack meals as a result of recent initiatives to make the meals healthier. Kids now receive apples, baby carrots, and potatoes for easy microwave baking.

Ending Weekend Hunger

We learned from the Saturday mobile food bank in Lakewood’s Springbrook neighborhood how many of these children are at risk of hunger over the weekend. A teacher at Tyee Park Elementary, which many Springbrook children attend, told us that she noticed an immediate difference when the mobile food bank began because her students did not come to school hungry on Monday morning.

Hungry children suffer from health problems such as unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, and frequent colds. They are more likely to be ill and absent from school and typically cannot concentrate or do as well as others when they are at school.

backpack delivery

I would like to say thank you for all that you do to fight hunger in Pierce County. In particular, I want to thank you for the backpack program. I am a first grade teacher at Sheridan Elementary and I witnessed how the backpack program changed students' emotional outlooks and academic abilities. This past year I had three students participate. I cannot begin to describe the happiness on their faces Friday afternoon as the carried their backpacks home, knowing they wouldn't be hungry over the weekend. The added nutrition contributed to their first grade academic success, as well as healthy physical, emotional and mental development.

How to Help

Donations of healthy, kid-friendly foods are always needed. Please consider donating any of the following items to the backpack program:

-individual oatmeal packets

-cans of soup with veggies (except Ramen Noodles)

-chicken or tuna meal kits

-100% juice boxes

-shelf-stable milk boxes

-granola bars

-fruit leather, raisins, or craisins

-individual packages of granola

-individual packages of nuts or trail mix

*Out of respect for Muslim students who receive backpacks, we ask that you do not donate any item containing pork or pork products, including gelatin.

The Food Connection is also partnering with local schools and organizations to collect appropriate foods. Please contact Kevin Glackin-Coley for more information: e-mail keving@foodconnection.org or call (253) 383-5048, ext. 102 or (253) 312-9392 (cell).

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