KidsPak

A nonprofit organization

$23,003 raised by 67 donors

92% complete

$25,000 Goal

UPDATE: First $5,000 matched by a generous friend of KidsPak!


No child should be hungry.

Help KidsPak ensure food-insecure students in the Thompson School District of Northern Colorado have food to take home for the weekend so they can show up on Monday ready to learn. TSD covers Loveland, Berthoud and unincorporated areas of Larimer, Weld & Boulder Counties in Northern Colorado.

Hunger is a painful experience that disrupts a student's ability to concentrate or participate in daily activities, and it affects 1 in 7 students in Colorado. Food insecurity prevents students from reaching their full potential and becoming successful adults. These consequences of hunger ripple into our greater society and cost all of us.

Did you know that food insecurity affects over 5,000 students in Thompson School District (TSD)? 

For these students, school meals may be the only food they receive, meaning that without KidsPak they may stay hungry from Friday evening through Monday morning. Dire long-term developmental consequences of hunger may also result in low self-esteem, disruptive behaviors in the classroom, and anxiety. Proper nutrition is essential for academic success–hungry students are often left behind, and this gap affects the whole community. 

It doesn’t need to be this way.  

A well-respected community resource, KidsPak was founded in 2009 to combat weekend hunger by providing supplemental weekend food bags, enabling students to be ready to learn on Monday morning. KidsPak provides food to families in nearly 40 schools and teaches staff within TSD to recognize signs of hunger and confidentially connect students to KidsPak resources. KidsPak distributes about 650 bags across TSD each week, with each bag containing 6 meals.

$50.00 provides 1 weekend bag for 1 food-insecure student each week for 1 month.
$350.00 covers 1 weekend of meals for 1 food-insecure student each week for a school year.


Mission

KidsPak focuses on providing weekend meals to food-insecure students, allowing them to reach their full potential. This is achieved through partnering with our schools, community, donors, and volunteers.

Background Statement

In early 2009, a member of the Loveland Rotary Club in Colorado saw a national newscast about the explosion of weekend backpack food programs throughout the United States. Dismayed by the prevalence of hunger among school children, the member contacted the Thompson School District to find out if they had a similar assistance program. At that time, the Thompson School District served approximately 14,000 students, with nearly 5,000 families receiving free and reduced meal benefits, but no weekend hunger-relief program existed. Rotarians formed a committee to support food-insecure students in the district with weekend food bags and, after multiple meetings, Rotarians named the new program "KidsPak."

KidsPak met with administrators and nutrition experts from the school district to begin creating a healthy weekend food plan. Countless food experts told them that science had shown that a young body needs adequate and frequent food to be able learn and retain what has been learned. KidsPak's vision was for every student to be well fed and ready to learn when school resumed on Mondays, knowing that school meals would carry them through the rest of the week.

The initial plan was to provide weekend food bags for the last 8 weeks of the 2008-2009 school year. That semester, 3 elementary schools participated, serving 34 food-insecure students. KidsPak enlisted the district's registered dietitian for advice on the weekly menus and then purchased healthy items through the local food bank and Sam's Club. Each bag consistently provided over 55 grams of protein for the weekend.

KidsPak presented every teacher with a list of 17 criteria to help them evaluate a student for signs of hunger, including asking when the next snack will be served, having spoon-shaped fingernails, slow memory recall, or aggressive behavior. KidsPak's primary operating rule was to maintain student confidentiality, so the process was for school personnel to talk with and receive permission from parents or guardians to accept weekend food bags, which KidsPak delivered to the school for distribution to individual students.

As the fall of 2009 unfolded and resources were secured, KidsPak added more elementary schools to the program. Schools that had over half of their students qualifying for free and reduced numbers were the program's first priority. As the end of 2009 approached, KidsPak was sending out over 100 bags weekly to those schools. The local Rotary Foundation donated and Rotary District 5440 provided financial support to enable KidsPak to reach additional schools.

When KidsPak began, work took place in a small space in the House of Neighborly Service building. After 3 years, KidsPak was able to lease a larger space within the newly renovated Food Bank for Larimer County in Loveland and in 2021 moved into leased space at The Forge and separated from the Rotary to become its own nonprofit.

KidsPak operates without any paid staff, instead using only volunteers to fulfill the mission of providing supplemental weekend meals to food-insecure students across the Thompson School District, which provides education to students in an area of over 152 square miles-serving the cities of Loveland and Berthoud and the unincorporated areas of Larimer, Weld, and Boulder Counties.

According to Hunger Free Colorado, nearly 1 in 5 Colorado children may not know when or where they will receive their next meal. With food insecurity within our nation at an all-time high, KidsPak will continue to focus on supporting hungry students within the Thompson School District community.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

KidsPak

other names

(previously Loveland Rotary KidsPak, since 2009)

Year Established

2021

Tax id (EIN)

86-1897223

Category

Food, Agriculture & Nutrition, Education, Public & Societal Benefit

Address

PO Box 2078
Loveland, CO 80539

Service areas

Larimer County, CO, US

Loveland, CO, US

Berthoud, CO, US

Weld County, CO, US

Boulder County, CO, US

Phone

970-237-0525

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