Packs For Kids

Proper nutrition for a growing child is very important in their development. Hungry children have decreased attention spans, increased behavioral problems, and more school absences due to sickness. Simply put, hungry children may risk falling behind academically due to a lack of resources. Free meals in school certainly help, but can only support these students Monday through Friday. For assurance these students will have food for the weekend, our Packs for Kids program can provide this extra support.

Working With Schools

In collaboration with eighteen local Seattle public schools, University District Food Bank provides weekend meals and snacks to children who are at risk of food insecurity when free or reduced school meals are unavailable. These packs of food contain items that are age-appropriate, nutritious, simple to prepare, and easy to take home in a school bag.

Packs For Kids is a program that succeeds because of the hard work done by our school partners. School staff identify youth for the program and ensure that food gets to them every Friday afternoon. Parent volunteers collect the food from the food bank, take it to the school, and package the food into individualized portions so that it is ready to go. The food bank works to ensure that food is available to all our partner schools – Roosevelt High School, Ingraham High School, Eckstein Middle School, Jane Addams Middle School, Hazel Wolf K-8, Olympic View Elementary, Sacajawea Elementary, Sand Point Elementary, Lowell Elementary, View Ridge Elementary, Greenlake Elementary, Wedgwood Elementary, Decatur Elementary, James Baldwin Elementary, Thornton Creek, Bryant Elementary,  and Middle College High School.

Last school year, we distributed more than 25,000 packs of food. These packs made an immediate and positive difference.

“Students seem happier and parents are relieved to have healthy snacks to offer their kids on the weekends”

Margaret Johnson (2016)school nurse at Olympic View

“[the student] has more stamina in taking on challenging assignments and his grades have improved significantly.”

Teacher at a partner school

If you’d like to support our Packs for Kids program and ensure that area youth have access to healthful food all week long, please visit our Support Us page to make a designated cash gift or to learn how to drop off food donations. We developed an easy to use guide of  food donations appropriate for Packs for Kids too.