Grant Program: Community Grants
Funded by: Howard Martin Memorial Fund
Backpack Buddies’ mission is to ensure food security for every vulnerable child in British Columbia.
MAIN ACTIVITIES: Many children rely heavily on school meal programs but over the weekend may not eat at all until school starts again on Monday. This is ‘the weekend hunger gap.’ Backpack Buddies addresses this crisis by filling backpacks every Friday for students in need with meals and snacks to last the weekend. For a cost of only $20, Backpack Buddies sends a child home with a bag full of kid approved meals to last the weekend and beyond. Backpack Buddies is delivered across BC. From Alert Bay to Fernie and Victoria to Fort St. John, we serve over 6,100 children in 60 communities through 347 schools and community partners, working to end childhood food insecurity through our weekend meal program. We will continue to expand to more communities and more children BC wide, keeping our promise to be there for them as long as they need us.
This grant was used to support children on the North Shore. In 2024, 105 were supported. We provided bags of food for each child every weekend through the school year, ensuring they didn’t go hungry on the weekends. Every Friday, their backpacks were filled with child-friendly food including soup, stew, tuna, dried fruit, fresh produce, milk, oatmeal, and more – enough to last from Friday afterschool until Monday morning. Schools involved on the North Shore are: Braemar, Larson, Norgate, Queen Mary, Tsleil-Waututh as well as North Shore Neighbourhood House.
Poverty and hunger are present in every BC community. A staggering 51.4% of children in single parent families live in poverty. Some areas of the North Shore have poverty rates of over 40%. The ever-increasing cost of rent, household expenses and childcare has created an affordability emergency, and it has hit children the hardest. One in five families is at risk of food insecurity. For parents depending on school meal programs to help feed their children, every weekend brings renewed worry about how they are going to feed their kids.
With Backpack Buddies, children have enough food for the weekend. The impact includes:
– Improved memory, reduced absenteeism, and improved overall mood
– Better focus on their lessons and participate more fully in class
– Relate better to their peers through cooperation and working in teams
– Reduced worry about where their next meal is coming from
– Reduced strain on their parents by alleviating some financial pressure at home
This helps to address the Health & Wellness issues identified in the VitalSigns report, specifically the Zero Hunger sustainable development goal.
"As families are experiencing, Backpack Buddies has also been facing rising costs. What once cost $20 to fill a bag of food for the weekend, now costs more. We have also been sourcing new options for healthier food - things like heartier, low sodium soup; more produce options, etc. These healthier foods cost more but are important for growing kids. All that to say, starting in September 2024, a Backpack Buddies bag of food now costs $25."