Community Education Health & Wellness
Altrusa, Food Backpacks 4 Kids team up on summer lunch program
Food Backpacks 4 Kids’ free Summer Lunch in the Park program returns this summer at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 8 through Aug. 28.
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Volunteers from Altrusa International will staff two Gig Harbor distribution locations: The library on Point Fosdick Drive and the skate park at the Civic Center on Grandview Street. Key Peninsula lunch distribution sites include Gateway Park, Key Peninsula Civic Center and Home Park.
Altrusa volunteers will help assemble the lunches for the Gig Harbor locations in the kitchen of Agnus Dei Church.
Volunteers also will deliver lunches to one Gig Harbor neighborhood for kids who don’t have transportation.
Healthy and tasty
Each sack lunch includes a handmade sandwich or wrap, fresh fruit, fresh vegetable, chips or cracker or cookie, and a beverage. Food Backpacks 4 Kids Executive Director Zaida Woodworth said the two organizations are prepared to serve 4,720 lunches this summer.
“We have been collaborating with Altrusa for years, and they have generously supported FB4K through their Empty Bowls (fundraising) event,” Woodworth said. “We love working with them, and deeply appreciate the support they provide throughout our community.”
Food Backpacks 4 Kids in partnership with Altrusa International is once again hosting Summer Lunch in the Park, a free lunch program. Volunteers will assemble the bag lunches, which will be delivered to the distribution sites in Gig Harbor and on the Key Peninsula. Photo courtesy of Zaida Woodworth
Altrusa International is a service club focused on hunger and literacy. The Gig Harbor chapter began in 1983.
“We help fund FB4K, and they are part of our work, so we were already connected. … we intend to keep doing this as long as there is a need,” said Nancy Hohenstein, past president of Altrusa International of Gig Harbor.
Covering costs
The free Summer Lunch in the Park program costs about $8,000. Woodworth said Food Backpacks hasn’t yet made that much in sponsorships or funding. The organization will absorb the costs.
The program costs twice what it did a few years ago, she said.
“With rising food costs, it’s becoming more challenging,” she said. “We rely heavily on sponsorships.”
Chapel Hill Church has sponsored $2,500. That sponsorship, along with the Altrusa partnership, has helped to keep the program going, Woodworth said.
Need continues to increase along with the cost of food.
Funding cuts and increased needs
Food Backpacks receives most of the food from the Emergency Food Network, which Woodworth said has been heavily impacted by federal cuts.
“We are very concerned about the impact cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will have on our community members who are already struggling,” she said.
In addition to the public locations, the program will serve more than 100 lunches in multiple housing developments to children who don’t have transportation to the parks.
FB4K has an Amazon Wishlist. Woodworth said helps to supply paper bags and gloves for food handling. In the past, some businesses have sponsored the program by providing lunch meat or juice boxes, but FB4K does the bulk of the purchasing for the lunches.
Summer lunch program
Time and date: Noon on every Tuesday and Thursday from July 8 through Aug. 28
Gig Harbor: Gig Harbor Civic Center Skate Park, 3510 Grandview St. (25 lunches each day); Gig Harbor Library, 4424 Point Fosdick Drive, (25 lunches each day)
Key Peninsula: Gateway Park, 10405 Highway 302 NW; Key Peninsula Civic Center, 17010 S Vaughn Road; Home Park, 17220 8th Ave. Ct. NW, Lakebay.
To give to the Summer Lunch in the Park program: visit foodbackpacks4kids.org or Altrusa’s Amazon Wishlist.