By Nick Dube

Local school district’s partnership with a nonprofit is helping kids focus on education

May 1, 2026 | 5:21 PM


PRINCE GEORGE – Feeding Futures is a provincial program that is put into practice across School District 57 with the sole purpose of providing students with consistent access to nutritious food. This initiative addresses the immediate need of feeding students during the school day while also reducing the financial burden on families facing rising food costs and by partnering with a non-profit organization like Backpack Buddies SD57 can extend this support beyond the classroom to bridge the weekend hunger gap.

So our real mission is to target that weekend hunger gap faced by kids who are relying on the school meal programs Monday through Friday. You often hear about breakfast and lunch programs in school, but people don’t often consider what’s happening on the weekends for those children. we’re really targeting that from Friday night to Monday morning and trying to make sure kids have what they need on the weekends so they can come to school Monday ready to learn, and not one step behind their peers.” said Backpack Buddies Co-founder Emily-anne King.

Starting with one school and 20 backpacks in 2012 Backpack Buddies supports approximately 7000 children in 500 schools every week accross the province. In 2023 Social worker Kristin Olsen identified the growing numbers of kids going hungry over the weekend and reached out to the non profit for a solution and that created a partnership that has grown to this day.

“Food at school was easy, but noticing by the end of the week kids were kind of spiraling and really struggling. Knowing that food wasn’t going to be as accessible over the weekend I went on the government website looking for grants and ways to fill this gap. I found Backpack Buddies, and they got back to me right away and within a month they sent 100 bags for us to send food with kids for the weekend.” said Shas Ti Kelly Secondary School Indigenous Education Social Worker Kristin Olsen.

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Over the three years since the partnership has flourished but the demand continues to rise with ever growing cost of living expenses and both sides are pushing to close the gap.

“As it relates to Prince George in particular, we’ve been told there’s several thousand children who could benefit from our program basically immediately and we currently support about 256 children a week with goals to double that by September.” said King.

And with expansion plans to support over 500 children a week the timing couldn’t be more crucial and the extra support will be put to good use.

“We’re very excited that our numbers are going to be increased in September because what we’re learning is that there’s visible need, but there are also needs that fly a little bit under the radar that we don’t always see. The more support we have, the more able we are to support all of the students who are in need.” said PGSS Community Schools Co-Ordinator Stephanie Mills.

Not only is the program feeding students but it’s also building trust and connection which are both vital in developing a student’s future.

“It allows us to help students feel connected to the school community, to feel cared for and to feel seen. All of those benefits are so beautiful when we see them in practice with our students.” added Mills.

To support this cause you can visit https://www.backpackbuddies.ca/

by Nick Dube

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