Food Backpack For Kids gets $5,000 Safeway grant to fight weekend hunger in schools
Sat, August 1, 2026 at 1:45 PM
KATU photo/FILE
A $5,000 grant from Safeway Albertsons will help Food Backpack For Kids expand its effort to fight weekend hunger for students in the Florence and Mapleton school districts
The grant is expected to fund more than 28,000 weekend meals for at-risk, food-insecure students during the 2026 school year, according to the organization. As the Fall 2026 semester approaches, Food Backpack For Kids said it anticipates identifying additional students who will benefit from the program
Food Backpack For Kids, founded in 2012, provides nutritious, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat food bags to students who face weekend food insecurity. The organization’s mission is: “Together, no child will go hungry.”
Each bag includes three meals for Saturday and three meals for Sunday, along with drinks, snacks and disposable utensils, the organization said
Volunteers pack the bags every Wednesday and load them into the Backpack van for delivery to Siuslaw (Florence) and Mapleton schools. The organization said many of the students it serves live in rural areas and face varied challenges at home, and the weekend food support is intended to help students return to school on Monday nourished and ready to learn
Food Backpack For Kids said the program is continuous, with no end or sunset date, and it expressed gratitude for Safeway Albertsons’ support
