Kamloops residents turn up in droves for annual Starfish Backpack drive-thru breakfast

On the menu for a minimum $15 donation were breakfast wraps and coffee as well as other goodies donated by local businesses. All proceeds went towards supporting elementary students in the Kamloops-Thompson School District (SD73) facing food insecurity.

“It takes a community to raise a child and we want children to feel safe, connected, regulated and ready to learn and for them to feel that way at school, they need to be well nourished,” SD73 superintendent Mike St. John told CFJC Today.

“A well nourished body is a well nourished brain, and it allows them to connect with the teacher and the curriculum much better.”

(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

Siracky said this is the tenth year for the Starfish Backpack Program, and the eighth such drive-thru breakfast. In addition to nutritious meals each Friday during the school year, students are also given school supplies for the year.

“It’s an expensive program because we purchase all the product that goes into it, so we have to wait until we ensure that we can purchase all of that product for the entire year before we can increase the number of backpacks,” Siracky said.

“We have some really strong business support this year and we’re really delighted with the participation this year.”

(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

As breakfast wound down on Friday, the brand-new backpacks were loaded into vehicles by an army of volunteers, ready to be sent to elementary schools across Kamloops and into the hands of a grateful student.

“We have a really great partnership with the school district. They let us know how many backpacks are required at each school and we just delivery that number to them,” Siracky said. “The decision making it at the school level, which is exactly where it needs to be as they know those kids intimately.”

Sadly, she also noted that the need for these backpacks, and the Kamloops Food Bank in general, keeps growing each year.

“I don’t know if we can ever totally meet the need that’s out there, but we’re doing everything we can to make that happen,” Siracky said.

by Victor Kaisar

Kamloops residents turn up in droves for annual Starfish Backpack drive-thru breakfast

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