Nearly a month ago, The Press reported on the Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program's dire need for funding to continue to feed kids in need when school is out for weekends and holidays.

Volunteers who run the nonprofit program feared it would end at the close of the 2025-2026 school year if they could not drum up enough support.

People responded to the news with immense generosity. Within 24 hours of the March 10 article being published, program leaders reported an outpouring from a community that refuses to let kids go hungry. As of Thursday, about $55,000 of the roughly $100,000 needed to continue the program had been raised. 

"We saw a huge response from the article. Like, huge," Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program Director Sarah Bradbury told The Press in a March 19 email. "A few weeks before the article came out, we had sent out nearly 100 letters to area businesses, but only two people responded. Starting at 6:30 a.m. the day the article ran, I received email after email and phone call after phone call.

"Not only was it a huge success with fundraising, but it also got our program in front of the eyes of people who had never heard of us or do not use social media to know that we are struggling financially. In one week, we were able to get about one-fourth of our budget."

The evening of the 11th, Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program organizers shared their gratitude on social media "to each and every one of you who saw the article about the Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program in the newspaper and reached out with donations, questions and support!"

Hayden Meadows, Atlas and Dalton Gardens elementary schools were immediately sponsored for the next school year. Canfield and Lakes middle schools had partial donors.

Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program Vice President Jennifer Branstetter said five schools have now been fully sponsored.

The Kindness Club from Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities made $276 for the program as students carried posters around the St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Coeur d'Alene and shared their cause with parade-goers.

Local businessman Dustin Gannon with Flying S Title and Escrow held a March Madness fundraiser at Golf Island Indoor Golf in Riverstone.

Branstetter also shared program organizers' appreciation to The Press.

"It would have never happened without that article," she said. "We still have a long way to go."

A check for $100 here, a $1,000 donation there. Branstetter said the donations are continuing to come in.

"It's a really big blessing," she said.

The Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program helps feed about 700 students in the Coeur d'Alene School District who otherwise would go without meals when school is not in session throughout the school year. Students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches are identified by school counselors, who connect with teachers to make arrangements for students to privately receive food kits.  

Visit cdabackpackprogram.org for details and to donate.

    The Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program helps feed about 700 students in the Coeur d'Alene School District who otherwise would go without meals when school is not in session throughout the school year.