Backpack Buddies exists to serve Metro Vancouver’s most vulnerable children – those who go without food on most weekends. Our priority is to give them food they can prepare and eat comfortably to ensure they get through the weekend without going hungry.
In partnership with teachers and social workers, the contents of our backpacks have been chosen intentionally and have been refined over time to make sure they are:
- READY TO EAT because many of our recipients are home alone and will have to prepare this food by themselves, often with very limited access to a microwave, stove or oven;
- NON-PERISHABLE because often kids in our recipient schools do not have refrigerators or appropriate food storage space at home;
- FAMILIAR because, like most children, the kids we work with are not particularly adventurous in their eating habits – they like and eat what they know.
Here’s what typically goes in one of Backpack Buddies’ backpacks of food:
- PROTEIN like tuna and cracker packs, cheese strings, beef jerky, pepperoni sticks, yogurt tubes and chocolate milk boxes.
- STARCH like instant pasta cups, crackers, Chef Boyardee soups and noodle soups.
- FRUITS + VEGGIES like apple sauce cups, apples, oranges, seaweed snacks and fruit leathers.
- OTHER KID-FRIENDLY SNACKS like granola bars, cereal and juice boxes.
During the 2017/18 school year, we delivered over 16,000 backpacks of food to children across Metro Vancouver who otherwise would have not eaten over the weekends. Together, we can ensure that no child in our community goes hungry.
“It’s clear that the backpacks have been carefully designed to take into account the situations our students live in. Most of our kids don’t know how to prepare food that involves anything more than adding hot water or microwaving something…Backpack Buddies recognizes and respects this.”
Robert Schumann
High School Teacher with the Surrey School District
