Image Credit: Sydney Chisholm / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

STARFISH BACKPACK PROGRAM

Kamloops Food Bank Starfish Backpacks feeds 225 students, inspires food security education

Oct 19, 2023 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — By the end of the work week, mornings are busy at the Kamloops Food Bank. An assembly line of volunteers sort, pack, and deliver hundreds of bags for the Starfish Backpack program.

“Obviously every year we kind of expect a bit of an increase in the numbers of backpacks that we distribute. This year though, it went up exponentially,” explains Food Bank Events and Communication Coordinator Kennedy Epp.

According to Epp, 225 students are on the list for this school year — another increase during an affordability crunch that has led to more families needing the food bank’s services.

“We’re trying to have that balance of foods that kids will eat, but also foods that are somewhat healthy and nutritious to try and make sure that we’re promoting development in their young brains,” adds Epp.

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Starfish Backpacks was the passion project of the late Christopher Seguin, who founded this program in 2016 with the idea that providing meals outside of school days would help reduce food security-related stress for students and their families.

“This is giving them a little extra help at home over the weekend,” says warehouse manager Wes Graham.

Now in 2023, the program has sparked more education around making nutritious foods accessible.

“We’re working with the school district in other ways, as well, about food education,” explains Graham. “How we can deliver more product to the schools for those education resource pieces.”

The food bank’s work with the district has also inspired hands-on learning, using methods like student-run classroom pantries or school community gardens.

“(Trying to) nurture that understanding of how to keep ourselves going,” says S.D. 73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon. “Understanding what food can do for us as human beings — how it’s nutritious, how it’s part of our life and how it doesn’t need to be reserved for someone who is ‘in need’. We all need it and we’re all accessing it all the time so it’s stigma free.”

Packing and delivering hundreds of backpacks each week is no small job, but the food bank and its volunteers are up to the task.

“Feeding 225 students every single week — two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, two snacks, it can be a lot of food, so we’re always happy to accept donations,” notes Epp.

For inquiries around volunteering, or donating to Starfish Backpacks, go to KamloopsFoodBank.org.