Child Hunger. It’s closer than you think.
But YOU can help a hungry child in your comminity this school year.
Every Friday, Backpack Buddies fills backpacks with meals, snacks, and fresh fruit & veggies for more than 6,8000 children across BC.
Just $25 provides a backpack-full of food for one hungry child for an entire weekend.
Backpack Buddies feeds hungry children in your neighbourhood. Hungry kids often rely on school-based meal programs during the week, and then go without food on weekends—and other school breaks—when meal support is scarce. Backpack Buddies fills this “weekend hunger gap” by discreetly providing bags of food directly to kids every Friday. These bags contain enough meals and snacks to last the weekend and beyond, ensuring kids return to school nourished and ready for the week ahead.
Behind Every Door is a Different Story
As children across BC head back to school, many families are buying school supplies, finding new school clothes, and registering for new activities.
But for thousands of children, back-to-school looks very different. Some of those children are likely right in your own neighbourhood.
Every morning, children head out the front door with backpacks on their shoulders. From the outside, their lives may appear similar. But behind one door, there’s enough food to get through the weekend. Behind another, there are empty cupboards and worry about where the next meal will come from.
That’s the heartbreaking reality for 288,000 children across British Columbia.
We all see how expensive groceries have become. For families already stretched thin, putting enough food on the table can feel impossible. School meal programs are a lifeline, but for many children, Friday’s school lunch may be the last reliable meal they receive until Monday morning.
This is the weekend hunger gap.
If you’d like to donate to Backpack Buddies, their Back to School Campaign is on now. Help more youth start on the right foot this upcoming school year! Visit www.backpackbuddies.ca to donate or click the donate button.
Did You Know?
Children Across BC are Hungry
Families are in crisis. The ever-increasing cost of rent, household expenses and childcare has created an affordability crisis for families. One in three children experiences food insecurity. For those that depend on school meal programs to help feed their children, every weekend brings renewed stress to keep food on the table.
- 147,570 BC children live in poverty
- 33% of BC children face food insecurity
- 47% increase in grocery costs since 2020
- 44% of children in single parent families live with food insecurity
Facts & Stats
At Backpack Buddies in 2025 – 26:
- 6,800 children received food for the weekend
- 6,721 children received food during Spring Break
- 1,208 children received food during summer holidays
- 486 schools and community partners in 83 BC communities offered the Backpack Buddies program
- 222,910 bags of food for the weekend and 2116 holiday hampers were delivered to kids, providing 1,821,712 meals
- 6,219 Buddies from our donor community generously gave $6,983,145 to fund our programs
- 917 volunteers generously donated 3,813 hours to pack bags of food and deliver food to schools
Every BC community – even the ones you’d least expect – has children who are hungry. And in some neighborhoods, the situation is far more dire than others.
These 13 areas have neighborhoods with the highest poverty levels in BC. Backpack Buddies is stepping into help: our program is now offered in 10 of these areas and we are extending our support to more kids each year.
- Central Saanich
- Chilliwack
- Fraser Canyon
- Metchosin
- Nanaimo
- North Shore
- Prince George
- Richmond
- Vancouver
- Victoria
Hunger doesn’t take the weekend off.
Children in food-insecure households often do not eat properly, or at all, on weekends. Consistent hunger, even just over the weekend, can set a child back for life. Children from food insecure households…
- Are two to four times more likely to have poorer health or a diagnosed chronic condition as they face long-term health challenges.
- Exhibit higher rates of behavioural problems and psychosocial deficits, and higher levels of anxiety and depression.
- Experience developmental impairments in areas of language and motor skills and are more likely to repeat a grade.
- Are more likely to be overweight due to poor diet and overeating due to the unpredictability of food.
Hunger doesn’t take the summer off.
When school closes for the summer, many children lose access to the meals they rely on every day. What is normally a weekend gap becomes weeks or even months without consistent food.
- School meal programs pause, removing a reliable source of daily nutrition
- Families face increased pressure to provide more meals at home
- Children may experience ongoing hunger, stress, and uncertainty
- Children can return to school in September tired, anxious, and behind
They partner with schools to connect with children in need
Everything we do is coordinated in partnership with teachers and administrators. They advise us on the needs of their students and discreetly identify children who will benefit most from receiving a bag of food for the weekend.
They provide over 1.8 million meals a year
They work with grocery suppliers and food rescue organizations to stretch every dollar they have. Over 1.8 million meals a year are packed at their warehouses in North Vancouver and Victoria.
They deliver bags of food directly to schools every week
With the support of our transportation partners, they deliver thousands of bags of food every week to schools across BC.
They feed hungry kids with dignity and discretion
They take steps to ensure kids aren’t ashamed to get help. Every Friday, the kids they serve go home with a bag full of meals and snacks to last them the weekend. Coordinating with teachers and administrators, they ensure delivery is discreet so that no child feels singled out by this support. For the kids they serve, they head home every Friday knowing where their next meal is coming from and are equipped to return to school on Monday ready to learn.
Ready-to-Eat
All the food is ready-to-eat because many of the kids we serve are home alone. They will have to prepare this food by themselves, often with very limited access to a microwave, stove or oven.
Largely Non-Perishable
Most of the food is non-perishable because often kids in our recipient schools do not have refrigerators or appropriate food storage space at home. They recognize the importance of fresh fruit and veggies and include fresh items that last a while outside the fridge like apples, mini-peppers and mini-cucumbers.
Kid-Approved
Every item in their bags is kid-approved because, like most children, the kids we work with are not particularly adventurous in their eating habits—they like and eat what they know.
What is the weekend hunger gap?
Many children who come from food-insecure homes rely heavily on school meal programs. However, over the weekend these children may not eat at all until school starts again on Monday. This is what we call the “weekend hunger gap.”
Backpack Buddies addresses this crisis by providing kids with bags of kid-approved meals and snacks every Friday to last them the weekend.
What’s in a Backpack Buddies Bag?
One bag of food includes meal items, fresh fruit, veggies and snacks. There is enough food to last the entire weekend. We work hard to ensure that most items in our bags are ready-to-eat, are largely non-perishable in case a child doesn’t have access to refrigeration, and are familiar to kids.
How much does a bag of food from Backpack Buddies cost?
It costs $25 to fill a bag, though it is provided at no cost to the school and student. Each bag contains enough meal items plus fresh fruit, veggies and snacks to last a child the entire weekend.
Where does the food come from?
The majority of the food we provide in our bags is purchased from our food partners Save-On Foods and Sysco. We use our strong buying power to purchase the food at cost or less. We supplement this by purchasing through food rescue companies such as FoodMesh. We also have wonderful supplier partnerships with companies like FreeYumm, who contribute in-kind donations to our program.
How much does a bag cost?
It costs just $20 to fill a bag. Each bag contains enough meal items plus fresh fruit, veggies and snacks to last a child the entire weekend.
Do you distribute actual backpacks?
They pack our food in reusable, non-branded, non-woven fiber bags every Friday before they go home. These bags are unlabeled so we can provide support discretely to kids.
How do you choose which children receive bags of food?
They work closely with educators, administrators, and social workers in schools and community organizations across BC who advise them on the needs of their students and help identify those who could benefit most from receiving a bag of food every week.
How do you distribute the food every week?
Their trucks and transportation partners drive through Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, the Interior of BC, Northern BC and the Sunshine Coast delivering bags of food to recipient schools. The deliveries are met by a school representative who takes them to a discrete location for distribution to students as they head home on Friday afternoons.
Can I volunteer with Backpack Buddies?
Their program wouldn’t be possible without our incredible community of volunteers! They offer both individual and corporate volunteer opportunities.
