A Vancouver-based group that provides food to families in need said it has been overwhelmed by requests.
Backpack Buddies discreetly provides bags of food to young students on Fridays to help get them through the weekends.
These bags contain enough meals and snacks to last the weekend and beyond, which ensures kids return to school nourished and ready for the week ahead.
However, due to increased demand, for the first time in more than a decade, the organization said it has had to put schools and communities on a waitlist. Twenty-two communities, with half on Vancouver Island, are now waiting for help.
The organization said it is already delivering a record number of bags, up from around 5,000 last year to more than 6,000 this year.
Lower Mainland resident Sarah Roberts has been part of the program, which she said helps her and her daughter Paige so much.
“It’s just a little hand up, a little support at the foundational level that I think for all of the kids, in general, it provides a little bit of security and a little bit of freedom and maybe a little bit of an independence,” Roberts said.
“Not only do they get this food themselves through the school, but it’s all food that they can prepare or eat themselves and that they might want to.”
Paige said there is a good amount of food and there is often some left at the end of the weekend.
“This is almost more of a lunch helper (in) that it supplements our lunch kit picks throughout the week,” Roberts added. “But I mean, every family is different and every kid is going to approach a bag of food differently. So, you know, it helps in a myriad of ways.
Paige told Global News she loves it when there are apples, a fresh fruit snack, cereals and fruit bars.
Roberts also appreciates the program because she is now in a wheelchair after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about four years ago.
“I think that in my particular situation, it’s the accessibility issue,” she said. “Can I get out and get to the stuff to keep the cupboards full? I mean, I think the cost becomes an issue, too. I can’t get to a Costco or even a Walmart because I live so remotely.”
Emily-Anne King, executive director at Backpack Buddies, told Global News that currently they help 6,068 children across B.C. every week.
“This is just scratching the surface,” she said.
“The demand has really skyrocketed. Since 2020, I think there has been a real uptick in need, in particular in March of 2020, and there’s just been a steady increase over the last couple of years. But in the last six months in particular, I would say we’re getting more requests than ever before.”
King said it appears that families who were not concerned about food security before have found themselves struggling and have reached out.
However, at this time, they cannot meet the demand and that means children are doing hungry.
King explained that they rely on donations to keep going.
“Our annual food budget is over $2 million,” she added. “With this time last year, we’re now spending $20,000 more a month on our grocery bill.”
Roberts can relate to those stories as she said that finding themselves a single-income household and the high cost of living made making ends meet difficult.
“I don’t know what other families are going through, but I think that the direct help that this charity gives, it puts it in the kids’ hands,” she said.
I can’t speak for everybody, but I can say that for me, suddenly finding that I have to live as a disabled person who is not able to work, I mean, right away everything becomes about money and finances and stretching ends to make them meet.”
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