North Mason Chamber of Commerce :: Food for Kids Backpack Program

Food for Kids Backpack Program is an endeavor of the Coalition of Churches and Community, that partners with the BCBC, North Mason School District, and the Readiness to Learn Program to provide food for these children over the weekends.

Each week, backpacks are filled by volunteers with practical and nutritious foods. These packs are then delivered to the schools where staff confidentially and discreetly distribute them to the students who need them most. The students then return the backpacks to their school on Monday, where they are picked up to be refilled.

At least 40% of children in the North Mason School District rely on free or reduced price lunches at school. For some of these kids, this is the most nutritional meal they receive all day. Some of these children have little or NO food to eat on the weekends.

Programs such as this one have been shown to increase attendance, decrease behavior problems, improve concentration abilities and improve academic achievement.

You can help. Food donations may be dropped off at the NM Chamber of Commerce office at 23910 NE State Route 3 in Belfair (next to Rite-Aid) Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm and Saturday 9 to noon. JBarD Mini-Storage is another drop site at 23270 NE State Route 3 (between Belfair Baptist Church and Animal Hospital) open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday.

All money donated is tax deductible. Checks need to be made out to Coalition of Churches and Community with "food for kids" in the memo line. All money donated is used to purchase food and backpacks. You can also mail your check to CCC; PO Box 1331, Belfair, WA 98528.

The backpacks cost about $5 to fill a bag per week. That's only $200 a year to help feed a child.

We have very carefully chosen the food items that go into each backpack. The food must be kid-friendly, lightweight, shelf stable and practical to prepare. We have a very specific list of food items accepted for the backpacks. Therefore we ask that all food donations match items that are on this list.

Every backpack is filled with the following items to the best of our abilities:

One Tuna or Chicken Helper or Homestyle Bake
One can of tuna or chicken as needed for above meal
One box of macaroni and cheese
One 5.5 oz pancake mix or box of cereal
One quart dry milk
One instant meal (ramen, cup of soup, etc)
Two pudding cups
Two granola or protein bars
Two fruit snacks
Two snack size cracker sandwiches
One fruit cup
One snack size box of raisins
One small box of real fruit juice
One applesauce cup

Questions? Call Monna Haugen at 275-6237 or Anais Bersie at 286-0011 or email foodforkidsbackpackprogram@yahoo.com.

THANK YOU!