SANDPOINT — Restaurants in Bonner County and Sandpoint are stepping up to make sure nobody, especially children, goes hungry during the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to the Lake Pend Oreille and West Bonner County school districts, Arlo’s Ristorante, Huckleberry Lanes, Pack River Store and Uptown Bagel Co. are offering free meals to anyone who needs them with no questions asked.

Alex Jacobson, who owns the Pack River Store with his wife, Brittany, said they were moved to act because they recognized the need as schools and businesses close.

“We couldn’t fathom kids not being able to get a good meal,” Alex Jacobson said.

Pack River Store assembled 200 sack lunches for pickup at the store and another 200 at Arnie’s Conoco in Kootenai. On Friday, it offered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a hard-boiled egg, an apple, a banana, carrots, a bag of chips, a Pack River Store cookie and a carton of milk.

“It might vary a bit,” Jacobson said of the store’s offering.

Jacobson said the store is donating at least 100 meals each Friday and is using donations to assemble additional meals. The lunches will be available until schools reopen and donations are being welcomed.

Jacobson is hopeful that the meals will provide a measure of comfort, particularly children whose daily routines have been upended.

“Their world just got turned upside down,” said Jacobson.

Uptown Bagel Co. in Sandpoint is offering free lunches of ham and cheese bagels, juice boxes, a bag of chips and a freshly backed cookie.

“We’ll keep doing it for as long as we can,” said Uptown Bagel owner Angelina Henry.

Henry said food services which supply local restaurants are allowing businesses to reduce ordering minimums amid the virus-related downturn.

Uptown Bagel Co. has served up as many as 16 meals since learning local schools were shutting their doors earlier this week.

Huckleberry Lanes in Sandpoint is also making sure parents and kids stay nourished during the pandemic.

Owner John Brekke said they are offering free take-and-bake breakfast sandwiches of ham, cheese and egg on an English muffin. They come four servings to a bag with a limit of one bag per person.

“If anyone needs them they can come on in,” said Vrekki.

Brekke estimates volunteers at Huckleberry Lanes will prepare up to a thousand of the sandwiches.

“We’re trying to help during a difficult time,” said Brekke.

Lindsey Falciani, who co-owns Arlo’s with her fiance, Jesse Guscott, in addition to Lisa Guscott, said the restaurant is serving up pasta with marinara or butter sauce, grilled cheese sandwiches, celery and carrots and cheese curds courtesy of Litehouse Foods. Falciani saw the storm clouds forming when schools in Kootenai and Spokane counties started closing.

“We thought it would be really nice to take care of these kids if it happened here,” Falciani said, referring to local school closures.

Falciani recommends calling ahead for pickup, but she is also doing in-town deliveries when her schedule allows.

“I’ve been getting a lot of responses,” she said.

The Burger Dock, meanwhile, posted to Facebook an announcement that it is teaming up with the Pack River Store to provide sack lunches for students on Monday. They can be picked up at the Burger Dock patio in downtown Sandpoint (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or at the Sagle Conoco (noon to 1 p.m.).

“We’d like to encourage other businesses in our community to join us in filling every child’s belly,” the restaurant said in the post to social media.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.