Countless studies have shown that stress and worry caused by food insecurity limits a child’s ability to learn, impacts their health and can cause behavioral issues for them at school and within their families. Portland Backpack has a simple solution: put food directly into kids’ hands. Marilyn Mauch founded Portland Backpack as a volunteer project in the basement of Fremont United Methodist Church giving out less than 400 sacks a year, Portland Backpack has grown into a 501c3 that provides over 30,000 food sacks across 15 Portland public elementary schools yearly and our program doesn’t stop when the school year ends. In partnership with Portland Parks and Recreation: Lunch and Play Program, we put food sacks into the hands of 400 kids each Friday in 4 parks across Portland all summer.

Our work is about more than food. We believe that engaging the community in our efforts creates a greater impact that reaches beyond reducing hunger. Our community packing and care card events are the heart of our program. We are passionate about letting our kids know that their community cares about them. Each sack is packed with a handmade Care Card by community members. The cards let kids know that the folks in their community support them.

Although we have grown, we still rely completely on our volunteers and community partnerships to get the work done. They are the heart of Portland Backpack. This school year more than 1,500 volunteers have devoted over 2,600 hours ensuring kids are eating on the weekends. There are two main ways the community participates, the first being our packing events, when we purchase the food and groups come to our warehouse to make the care cards and pack food sacks. The second is our Community Cares events, when groups make care cards and purchase the food from our lists and pack the sacks themselves. With greater engagement, this work becomes more than reducing hunger, it becomes a collective strength and a deeper understanding of our interconnectedness. It becomes a family.