The school year is approaching, and the Idaho Food Bank is gearing up for its back-to-school programs.
Kassi Leatham is the regional director of the Idaho Food Bank for Eastern Idaho. She helps organize the donations for this area.
“Really the purpose of our Backpack programs, School Pantry program, is really focused on feeding kids, who may need additional food when they’re outside the classroom,” Leatham said.
Many children with food insecurity go to school and receive public school food. The Backpack program helps kids have two additional meals for Saturday and Sunday, enough to hold them over for the weekend.
How do children sign up for the programs? School administrators and teachers identify those in need.
“They are actually the ones who identify the students in need, and they let us know how many backpacks they need to service their kids,” Leatham said.
There’s no application process, so families don’t have to sign up for these benefits.
According to Feeding America Statistics, around 18% of children in the state of Idaho face food insecurity. Leatham says Idahoans are generous in helping those in need.
“We get about 95% of funding for this program from individuals like me and you, from organizations, from other nonprofit partners that we work with,” Leatham said.
The Idaho Food Bank delivered over 23,000 backpacks in Eastern Idaho and over 80,000 in the state last year.
“We’re hoping to do about 85 to 90,000 this year,” Leatham said.
Last year, their Backpack program had so many applicants that there was a waiting list. Because of community and nonprofit donations, the Idaho Food Bank was able to get every child off that waiting list.
“Last year, we had great support with our donors, so we were able to get everyone off that waiting list,” Leatham said.
The Food Bank has another additional program that came later. The school pantries. They found out that students returned home on the weekends and wanted to share food with family members. Unfortunately, each backpack only supplies enough food for one child: two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and two snacks.
Many schools in rural areas are the community’s center. While more populated towns like Idaho Falls or Pocatello have food pantries and food banks, that’s not always the case for smaller towns.
The School Pantry program helps families with food insecurity in those areas.
“We started some School Pantry programs so that the pantries can house some of those bigger staples: peanut butters, really hearty soups and stews, pasta dishes, things that the families can utilize and then take home,” Leatham said.
Many schools that participate in the Backpack program also started their own food pantries.
The Idaho Food Bank has around 78 school partners in Eastern Idaho and over 185 schools in the state that they deliver food to.
Sometimes food insecurity often comes with social and emotional insecurity. The schools deliver the food discreetly to each student.
They configure each bag to fit directly in a child’s backpack.
“We work with our schools to make sure how they’re delivering these foods to these kids is very discreet,” Leatham said.
Food insecurity fluctuates with the price of groceries and the economy. Right now, the Idaho Food Bank sees larger needs throughout the state.
For more information about volunteer opportunities or donations, go to IdahoFoodBank.org.