About Us

The idea of Backpack Meals for Kids originated at a 2011 meeting of a school district, staff, and community volunteers. Staff members explained the growing problem of weekend hunger: students from low-income families were coming to school hungry, tired, and not ready to learn on Monday mornings. It turned out that kids who received free school lunches on weekdays were not receiving enough nutrition on

weekends.

Community volunteers committed themselves to solve the problem. Beginning with two schools, they began delivering packs of weekend food every Thursday for hungry students.

Every year, the volunteer group added schools and increased the number of food packs. By 2018-19 the volunteers were providing 400-weekend food packs across the district. In addition, Backpack Meals for Kids began serving the district’s 85 preschoolers in the tuition-free Early Education Program.

In 2019-20 those weekly numbers grew to 690 food packs for K-12 and preschool kids as the effects of Covid 19 were felt. Even as schools closed, Backpack Meals for Kids continued to provide 690 food packs weekly through the district’s Family Connections.

Centers.

Still working in 2020-21 to meet Bellevue children's nutritional needs, Backpack Meals for Kids is a community-based non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers.

Childhood hunger is a fact of life in Bellevue. One in five students in the Bellevue School District qualifies for free and reduced-price meals at school. For some of these kids, school meals represent the bulk of their weekly nutrition.

Backpack Meals for Kids serves all BSD schools.

Today, we serve 28 schools, K-12.   Backpack Meals for Kids provided 12,000 weekend packs in the 2017-2018 school year.

Backpacks meals are delivered to local high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools for students to pick up.  Low-income students receive backpacks discreetly on Fridays to ensure their privacy.

Backpacks are delivered to local high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools for students to pick up.  Low-income students receive backpacks discreetly on Fridays to ensure their privacy.

Each backpack is filled with easy-to-fix meals.

A typical backpack contains:

2 entrees (like mac ‘n’ cheese, tuna, or chicken salad)

2 lunch items like peanut butter and crackers, ramen

2 breakfast items like cold cereal and oatmeal

Milk, juice, canned fruits

Snack items like protein bars, popcorn, raisins, wheat crackers, and more. 

We are unable to ensure the backpacks do not contain allergens.