About
Backpacks for Kids Program
The Culver City Backpacks for Kids Program believes that no child in the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) should go hungry or have food insecurities, especially on weekends when students don’t have access to school-sponsored breakfasts and lunches. The Culver City Council PTA and Culver City Education Foundation, in conjunction with CCUSD, provides students in need with a backpack filled with non-perishable food and snacks each week to ensure that every child can eat on the weekends.
How it Works
Children from nine CCUSD school sites from preschool through high school are enrolled in the Backpacks for Kids Program. Number identifiers are used within the program to preserve anonymity. Supported by the Culver City Council PTA and Culver City Education Foundation, the Backpacks for Kids Program is run entirely by volunteers and receives no funding from the school district, state, or federal sources.
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​During the school year, the Backpacks Program, working with the CCMS middle school students in ASB and other student volunteers, fill backpacks and load them on a cart to be brought up to the front of the school for volunteers from each school site to pick up and deliver them back to their school sites. The backpacks are then discreetly distributed by school staff directly to the students on Fridays. Our food procurement volunteer keeps our pantry stocked by purchasing shelf-stable foods in bulk, picking up donations from the Westside Food Bank, and gathering other donations from other sources. Our program works with the staff at CCUSD to enroll students in the program and organize food bags for each student.
How it Started
It started at one elementary school where teachers noticed kids being hungry on Mondays. Parent and school volunteers put together simple backpacks to provide food for the weekends. During the week the kids were eligible for free or reduced lunches and breakfasts, but something had to be done about weekend food uncertainty.
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Three backpacks turned into 19 very quickly. Led by community members and the district superintendent, the program went district-wide in December 2013. The district program started with 50 backpacks and grew to 75. Numbers grew to 120 backpacks in 2016; and at its height, during the COVID school closures, we served more than 400 children. Currently, we are now regularly filling on average 200 bags each week, with almost 300 CCUSD students signed up for the program.