According to Feeding America, 15% of children in Deschutes County experience food insecurity. These same children are more likely to be hospitalized, have chronic diseases such as obesity, anemia, and even asthma. There are school lunch programs for these children while they are in school, but the weekends pose more trouble as the cafeteria can’t be brought home. In Deschutes county, 30.5% of children are eligible for the National School Lunch Program according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
“The weekend food bags have helped us when we’ve run out of food or food money and need to make what we have stretch... Overall, it’s just helped get us through some tough scrapes. We really appreciate having this resource available at the school.”
"Each child who receives a snack bag smiles from ear to ear every week! We intentionally distribute the snack bags on Fridays, knowing that for most children, this may be the only snack they have for the next 48 hours, and in some cases, the food might serve as a meal replacement during the weekend.”
The project served 516 children per weekend.
28 schools provide Backpacks for Bend.
The number of items in the bag increased from six to ten.
The percent of children served each week increased by 40%.
A golden prize ticket was placed in four lunch bags each week.
Food bags were still allocated and distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The stigma around receiving help for food insecurity decreased.
Breakfast and lunch options were offered, along with snacks.