Fall Newsletter: A Strong Start to the School Year
Updated: 6 days ago
We kicked off the new school year with our Back-to-School Campaign, and thanks to an incredible community of supporters, we raised $20,000 to help local kids start the year strong. At $7.50 per weekend food bag, those gifts will help provide more than 2,600 children with food for the weekend.
That support is especially meaningful as we continue working toward Backpack Brigade’s mission—reaching more students, supporting more schools, and building the community partnerships that make that expansion possible.
And our community showed up in more ways than one.
We started the season with some incredible restaurant and business partners supporting Backpack Brigade through dine-outs and community campaigns. Stanford’s, Ascend Prime, Agua Verde, Gourmando, and Caffe Ladro all stepped up to help raise awareness and funds for weekend hunger relief. Every meal ordered, bag of coffee bought, and conversation shared helped introduce more people to our mission.
We’re incredibly grateful for businesses that find creative ways to make ending weekend hunger part of what they do.
With the start of the school year came the return of one of our favorite sights: a busy warehouse full of volunteers.
This fall, we hosted a Volunteer Coffee Hour. It gave us the chance to welcome new faces and reconnect with longtime volunteers. Some longtime volunteers have shifted into new roles as their lives have changed, and we love seeing people find new ways to keep Backpack Brigade part of their lives. We are deeply grateful to the 200+ preppers, packers, loaders, and drivers that make this work possible every week. 5,300 kids rely on us every week and we could not do it without our volunteers.
We’ve also welcomed Daryn, our new Volunteer Coordinator, who has jumped into the role with enthusiasm and plenty of panache. We’re excited to see what she and our incredible volunteer community build together this year.
We are still looking for volunteer drivers! Click here to snag a route.
Our programs are growing right alongside our community—and so is the way we think about meeting students where they are.
Our Adopt a School program is already making an impact this school year with generous support from a local family who has adopted the 10 students we serve every week at McGilvra Elementary School, giving that school a dedicated source of support for the year ahead.
Our Preschool Pack program is also gaining momentum, with several new corporate groups preparing to host packing events. These events give businesses, teams, and community groups a hands-on way to help provide kid-friendly food for some of our youngest neighbors.
We’ve also added a new menu option to our lineup: the Pantry Bag.
Not every student needs the same kind of support. Some may not need a full weekend meal bag but could still use supplemental snacks and staple foods to help round out what’s already available to them. The Pantry Bag gives us another way to respond to those needs with flexibility and care.
Because food insecurity doesn’t look the same for every student, our support shouldn’t either. Each new program, school, group, and volunteer helps us build a more responsive network of support for children and families across our community.
We also launched something new this fall: Notes from Nichelle, a series featuring Backpack Brigade founder and Executive Director, Nichelle Hilton.
It’s a chance to hear directly from Nichelle about what she’s seeing in our community, what’s happening around food insecurity across Washington, and what she has learned through years of working to make sure kids have reliable access to food.
Have a question you’d love Nichelle to answer? Send it our way by responding directly to this email (nichelle@backpackbrigade.org.) Your question might be featured in an upcoming Notes from Nichelle.
You're invited to Backpack Brigade's first-ever Turkey Waddle!
Join us for a tour of local fall sweet treats! There will be a play area for kids, a dog costume contest with prizes, and warm beverages—all to support ending weekend hunger for local kids.
Date: Saturday, November 28
Time: Opens 8:30 AM, Waddle Starts 9:30 AM
Location: Bellevue
Get your tickets here:
Join us for an evening of giving this December, our annual fundraiser for food-insecure children in King County.
Our Winter Wonderland Gala will feature live, silent, and online auctions, a paddle raise, engaging activities, and more! It’s a unique opportunity to connect with a passionate, mission-driven community while making a tangible impact in the fight against childhood hunger. Get your tickets here!
There’s a lot ahead, and if the beginning of this school year is any indication, it’s going to be a very exciting fall.
Thank you for being a part of the Backpack Brigade community, no matter how you engage with us and our mission, you are essential to helping us END weekend hunger.
With gratitude,
The entire Backpack Brigade Team
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