When summer comes, we think of kids playing outside, swimming, and enjoying camp with friends. However, there is another side to summer break. For some kids, no school means they go without food.
To meet their needs at mealtimes, Food Backpacks 4 Kids collects donations and fills backpacks for some of Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula’s most vulnerable children.
From June through August, Food Backpacks 4 Kids offers a summer lunchtime program at the Key Peninsula Civic Center, 17010 S. Vaughn Road KPN. Hosted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, June 28 through August 23, lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. In Gig Harbor, students who participate in the summer literacy program at Harbor Heights Elementary and those who visit the Cheney Boys & Girls Club will also receive lunch.
The program is supported by fundraisers and grants as well as donations received during the Saturday Farmers Market at the former Peninsula Gardens facility, 5503 Wollochet Drive NW in Gig Harbor. New this year is a summer produce stand in Key Center, made possible by a grant from the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation. It receives and distributes locally raised fruits and vegetables to those living in our community.
The Food Backpacks 4 Kids organization also has two new donation stations, making food drop-off locations convenient throughout our community, including fire stations within Gig Harbor Fire District 5. Each donation shed is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and accepts nonperishable food items. To learn more, sign up to volunteer or donate, visit
www.foodbackpacks4kids.org or call (253) 857-7401.