Vancouver-based program to feed hungry kids over weekends to expand to Victoria
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 03:10:45 +0000
Backpack Buddies, a Vancouver-grown program that provides food for hungry schoolchildren to eat over the weekend, is expanding to Victoria.
Emily-anne King, who co-founded the program with her mom in 2012, said five recipient schools had been identified so far and that deliveries would begin this school year.
“One of the biggest things we have planned for this school year is we are launching in Victoria” King said. “So we’ll be adding five recipient schools right out of the gate. We are seeking to grow that as much as we can in the coming months, as well as across Metro Vancouver.”
Backpack Buddies identifies schools that may have a need for their program, approaches them and are then usually given a number of children who could use a food package to eat over the weekend. The food is placed inside a biodegradable bag that is zipped into the student’s backpack — usually by a community outreach worker — at the end of the last day before the weekend.
“We want it to be discreet and not a pack that someone would know there is food inside. But we ensure that someone who needs a backpack gets one,” King said.
In 2018 the program had 16 donor schools — that fundraise and help prepare the packs — and 46 recipient schools, a big jump over 2017, delivering 3,000 food packs a month.
King said the Victoria program did not have donor schools yet, but was being funded by a Vancouver Island philanthropist who was covering the cost of transporting the food packs from Vancouver to Victoria as well providing as a delivery truck. The food would be stored in a warehouse operated by Vancouver Island charity Soap for Hope until Backpack Buddies is firmly up and running in Victoria.
“There are 10,000 kids just in Victoria that are living below the poverty line that could use our program,” King said. “It’s pretty staggering.”
In 2017/2018 Backpack Buddies had revenues of $352,000 – comprised mostly of donations ($138,000) and money from other charities ($110,000). King said the money from other charities came from grants, while the donations came mostly from fundraising events including the upcoming Food4Thought6.0 event in Stanley Park on Oct. 3.
The charity spends just over 10 per cent on management and administration — which is low by Canadian charity standards — and spends nothing on political activities.
King said she did have opinions on how the childhood poverty crisis should be handled, but her energy was better spend directly helping kids.
“I personally have my opinions on what should be done and how it’s gotten so severe,” she said. “Government after government has ignored the issue at hand, but we try to remove ourselves from that discussion because ultimately there are kids that are hungry and we’re going to try to feed them.”
Twenty per cent of children in B.C. live in poverty.