Impact Stories

Jacqueline is a resilient Indigenous mom who goes above and beyond to ensure her son gets enough to eat. Backpack Buddies doesn’t just provide meals that help ease financial stress in an ever-increasingly expensive city—it helps provide more options for her son and eases the after-school hunger rush.

Life hasn’t been easy for Krissy, a resilient Indigenous woman. Growing up with food insecurity, she often went hungry with her sister while their parents were away. She also struggled with addiction from an early age and experienced homelessness at 18, while pregnant. These early experiences left a lasting impact, instilling in Krissy a deep…

The reality is that there are a lot of people who are living paycheck to paycheck every month in this community. There are a lot of families—a lot of kids—who need help.

In the middle of the pandemic, Sarah was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis—a chronic, incurable, autoimmune disease that causes significant decreases in mobility.  Sarah was introduced to Backpack Buddies through her daughters’ elementary school. A counsellor knew they were struggling and took the simple step of including them in the group of kids that receive Backpack Buddies.

“There have been seasons where I won’t eat so that my kids can.” Kristy is a single mom with a fixed income living in Langford on Vancouver Island.

“When we moved to Canada, we used our savings,” Lauren explains. “We went through them quickly and as we scrambled to make ends meet we often had to skip meals.”

I was raised in a home that struggled. My mom was a single mother who struggled with alcohol addiction and at times became violent. I know firsthand what it’s like to go to school with nothing but a macaroni meat sandwich that no one wants or likes.

My passion for feeding hungry kids began when I was just a child.