Community Health & Wellness

Food 4 All, neé Food Backpacks for Kids, consolidating on property in Key Center

The former Food Backpacks 4 Kids is now known as Food 4 All and will operate out of a nearly 7-acre plot it purchased in Key Center.

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The nonprofit will consolidate its operations at 15717 88th St. NW this summer. Food 4 All will rehab a house and garage on the property to accommodate its Family Food Pantry, Family Resource Center and administrative offices. A portion of the land will become a small farm for growing vegetables and raising chickens.

Expanding mission

The organization began in 2009 as a grassroots program to ensure that elementary and middle school children in the Peninsula School District had food for the weekend. That’s where the backpacks name came from — putting food in them to make sure students had meals when school wasn’t in session.

But the nonprofit has added services over the years.

The former Backpacks 4 Kids has a new name, Food 4 All, and a new property at 15717 88th St. NW in Key Center. The property will house all of Food 4 All’s operations this summer. The nonprofit needs volunteers for construction and rehab of the buildings on the new property, as well as gardeners who can help ready the small farm for growing season. Photo courtesy of Food 4 All

It now operates a Family Resource Center, a Family Food Pantry and a food delivery program for people who are homebound. The backpack program continues to serve PSD students. 

Development director Sigurros Welborn said the new name better reflects the mission and resources Food 4 All provides to the Gig Harbor and the Key peninsulas. 

“There’s been a misconception that we only serve the Key Peninsula. But more backpacks go to Gig Harbor than the Key Peninsula,” Welborn said. 

Serving hundreds

At the height of backpack distribution, the organization sent out more than 500 each week. But during COVID-19 shutdowns, the services morphed into drive-through distribution at four locations. After schools reopened, Food Backpacks 4 Kids instituted care cupboards and launched its Family Pantry and Home Delivery programs in 2022.

Each week, the organization provides backpacks to 64 students in the Gig Harbor area and 48 students on the Key Peninsula, she said. All told, Food 4 All serves 80 youngsters who are 2 years old or younger; more than 1,000 people between the ages of 3 and 18; 200 people between  19 and 54; and 320 people who are older than 55, Welborn said.

“We’re seeing a growing need, and we don’t see that slowing down,” she said. “We had an increase in need of 40% from 2024 to 2025. The numbers for all of our programs continue to tick up.”

Fourteen volunteers drop off a variety of non-perishable foods, fresh produce, dairy, and proteins to about 50 households each week. Seventeen of those households are on the Gig Harbor side of the Purdy Bridge, Welborn said.

Growing its own food

Volunteers began gardening and raising chickens at Creviston Valley Farm in 2024 to supply fresh produce and eggs for the programs. Growing food is important to the mission of Food 4 All, Welborn said. The chickens have already moved to the new property and are doing great, Welborn said.

Food 4 All Executive Director Zaida Woodworth harvests cabbage from a garden the nonprofit tends on Creviston Valley Farm. The organization will create a new garden at its property at 15717 88th St. NW in Key Center. Photo courtesy of Food 4 All

“We feel it is important to not just provide food, but nutritious food,” she said.

Food 4 All needs nonperishable foods, volunteers to help prepare the new farm for growing season, skilled volunteers who can help rehab the house and garage and financial contributions, Welborn said.

Click here to apply to volunteer or click here to contribute to Food 4 All’s Capital Fund.