2015 BELLEVUE RESIDENTS GUIDE
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Volunteers help feed hungry students
H
undreds of students in Bellevue School District's schools are hungry, sometimes eating their only meals at school.
"We all live like kings and queens, so many of us, but we don't realize that there are kids who go home and there's no food in the refrigerator," said Janet Starr, founder of Backpack Meals for Kids. Around 4,000 kids in the Bellevue Schools District come from low-income families and qualify for free or reduced lunches. Some are homeless. "There are kids who aren't getting enough to eat, and there's over 100 kids in the district who are homeless. People didn't believe that at first because we are an affluent community, but it's true," said Starr. The organization provides between 130140 bags of food to students grades 5-12 at 27 schools. They also bring cartons of milk, cereal and other items to three schools that don't have a breakfast pro-
gram, including Enatai and Newport Hills. Volunteers pack bags with around 20 food items that students can eat cold or microwave, because often parents aren't home to help with the stove or oven because they are working, Starr said. The bags are available every Friday in the schools' main offices, where students can discretely pick them up and put them in their backpacks.
Backpack Meals packs up and delivers food between 8:30 and 10 a.m. each Friday during the school year. More information can be found at http://backpackmeals.org/
The organization, which started in 2011, receives funding from churches and private donations, but always needs more. The bags of food cost around $10 per student every week. A May fundraiser raised about $8,000, but Starr said more donations could help the organization expand its reach to students she knows they're missing. "As rents get higher and higher around here, I expect we'll find more and more kids needing bags," said Julie Foster, who has been volunteering with Backpacks for three years.
Staff photo
Julie Foster packs food for low income students.
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