Hunger. It’s Closer Than You Think.

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In BC, more than 1 in 3 kids don’t have enough food at home. 

$100 fills a child’s backpack with food every Friday this month.

Give Kids Food They Can Count On Every Friday

Fill children’s backpacks with food — and hope — for the weekend.

Your gift helps provide meals, snacks, milk, and fresh fruit & veggies to children across BC.

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.

Every Friday, Backpack Buddies Helps Fill the Weekend Hunger Gap

During the week

Children receive meals at school

On Friday

Kids Face the Weekend without enough food

Backpack Buddies steps in

Children head home with backpacks filled with food for the weekend.

What’s in the bag?

Reliable food changes everything.

  • Children return to school nourished and ready to learn
  • Families experience less stress and uncertainty
  • Kids gain confidence, stability, and dignity
  • Children get the chance to simply be children

Because hunger doesn’t take the weekend off.

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“Knowing there would be food on Friday changed everything for our family.”

I never imagined feeding my boys would become this hard.

Like so many families across BC, I’m doing everything I can to stretch what we have. But groceries keep getting more expensive, and every month feels a little harder.

Fridays were always the most stressful. I knew my boys would be home for two long days, and I never felt like there was enough food to get us through the weekend.

Then one Friday, my son came home with a Backpack Buddies bag for the first time. Inside were meals, snacks, milk, and fresh food for the weekend.

But honestly, it meant so much more than food. It meant relief. For the first time in a long time, I knew my boys would have food they could count on.

That changed everything.

Behind Every Door is a Different Story

Behind every childhood hunger statistic is the story of a child whose life has been shaped by hunger—and by the people who chose to make a difference.

“Sometimes there is only water.”

Years ago, Backpack Buddies Co-Founder Emily-anne King met a little girl in Vancouver who told her something she would never forget.

When Emily-anne asked what she had at home for the weekend, the little girl’s answer was simple:

“Sometimes there is only water.”

Shocked that this could be happening in her own community, Emily-anne and her mom Joanne began asking questions.

How could a child be going home to bare cupboards?

What they discovered was heartbreaking: many children had access to breakfast and lunch at school during the week, but every Friday, they were going home without enough food to make it through the weekend.

That realization became the beginning of Backpack Buddies.

In 2012, Backpack Buddies began by helping just 20 children.

Today, thousands of children across British Columbia receive food they can count on every Friday because caring supporters refuse to let childhood hunger go unseen.

“I remember what it felt like to never have enough.”

As a child, Deborah knew what it felt like to go to school hungry.

Raised by a single mother who struggled deeply, food insecurity was part of her everyday life.

“I remember going to school with lunches that made me feel ashamed,” Deborah shared. “I remember what it felt like to never have enough.”

So when she first learned about Backpack Buddies, the mission felt deeply personal.

“My soul wept,” she said. “Because I immediately understood how life-changing it can be for a child to know food is there.”

Not just food.

But dignity.
Relief.
Hope.

Today, Deborah is a proud member of Backpack Buddies’ Friday Club, helping ensure children across British Columbia head into every weekend with food they can count on.

Because Deborah knows firsthand how reliable food can change a child’s life.

Together, we’re changing children’s stories across British Columbia.

Every Friday, thousands of children head home with food they can count on because a caring community continues to show up.

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