Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program needs help to keep feeding kids
DEVIN WEEKS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 hours, 1 minute AGO
Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program volunteers Elise Smith, right, and Kait McKay load up wagons with boxes of food items March 3 in the nonprofit's Coeur d'Alene warehouse. For the first time since its inception in 2010, the solely community donation-supported program that feeds kids in need on weekends and school breaks is facing a financial crisis as funding is running out.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program volunteer and kindergarten mom Kait McKay on March 3 grabs a box of food items to be delivered to local schools where students facing food insecurity will be given weekend food kits.
Pasta cups, crackers, cereal and other shelf-stable items are among the foods included in Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program food kits to stave off hunger for schoolkids in need during weekends and holiday breaks. The program, which depends on community funding, is running out of money and may not continue past this school year without help.
Devin Weeks is a third-generation North Idaho resident. She holds an associate degree in journalism from North Idaho College and a bachelor's in communication arts from Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d'Alene. Devin embarked on her journalism career at the Coeur d'Alene Press in 2013. She worked weekends for several years, covering a wide variety of events and issues throughout Kootenai County. Devin now mainly covers education, entertainment, human interest stories and serves as the editor of North Idaho Live Well magazine. She enjoys delivering daily chuckles through the Ghastly Groaner and loves highlighting local people in the Fast Five segment that runs in CoeurVoice. Devin lives in Post Falls with her husband and their two eccentric and very needy cats. | March 10, 2026 1:09 AM
COEUR d'ALENE — A program that keeps kids fed when they're out of school for weekends and holiday breaks is facing financially lean days.
"We are out of money and our program will not last past this school year," Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program Vice President Jennifer Branstetter told The Press in a recent email.
The nonprofit Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program serves roughly 700 students in the Coeur d'Alene School District who are experiencing food insecurity.
"Our program started in 2010 with only 16 kids and has grown by leaps and bounds," Branstetter said. “When COVID hit, our numbers just skyrocketed, and that’s where the need has just gone crazy and it keeps going up.”
School counselors review lists of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, chat with their teachers, and arrange for students to receive food items discreetly. School officials may at times quietly place food kits in an elementary student's backpack during recess, or secondary students may have access to a school pantry to take items of their choosing.
“Sometimes there might be a kid that needs it just two weeks. Maybe a parent is just struggling,” Branstetter said. “Our numbers fluctuate week by week because of that.”
Donations, grants and sponsors support this free service that helps families in need. It receives no state or federal funding.
"Many of our students rely on these donated food bags to access ready-to-eat meals and snacks that they might not otherwise have while away from school," Sales said. "A significant number of our families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and for some students, the meals they receive at school are the most consistent source of nutrition they have."
She said for various reasons, including limited food at home or parents and guardians working long hours, some students may not have consistent access to meals over the weekend. Providing easy-to-prepare food options ensures that students can independently access meals and snacks when they need them most.
"Meeting these basic needs has a direct impact on students’ well-being, focus and ability to learn," Sales said. "When students return to school on Monday nourished and ready to engage, it benefits not only them, but our entire school community."
She said the program is an incredible support for Coeur d'Alene's students and families, "and it depends on the generosity of donations to continue its important work."
"Community support truly makes a difference in helping us ensure that no child goes hungry over the weekend," she said.
Even the warehouse space where they store the food items has been supported by those who believe in the cause.
“For the longest time we didn’t even know who had donated it," Branstetter said. "They just kept paying our electric bills and it was wonderful to have,”
Volunteer Elise Smith has four children. When she first heard about the program, her kids were at Northwest Expedition Academy, where 60 of the school's 280 students needed food kits.
"It just hurt my heart that there were so many people in the community who didn’t have food," she said. "They just need the food on the weekends.”
With one child in kindergarten, Kait McKay is happy to donate some of her newly freed-up time to ensure kids don't go hungry.
"Kids are helpless. They can’t work and get money and get their own food," she said. "It really is heartbreaking that some kids are home with stomachaches because there’s nothing in the pantry."
McKay said many in North Idaho are blessed to never be in that situation. The work done by volunteers through the Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program means fewer children will go to bed hungry.
"It’s for the kids," she said.
Weekend food kit sponsors are needed: $20 sponsors one child for a month, $90 sponsors one child per semester and $185 sponsors a child for an entire year.
Annual sponsorship needs by school: Hayden Meadows, $3,385; Winton, $8,695; Atlas, $4,810; NExA, $4,810; Ramsey, $9,250; Fernan STEM, $10,175; Bryan, $12,950; Skyway, $2,475; Dalton, $2,500; Canfield Middle, $6,105; Lakes Middle, $12,025; Venture High, $7,500; Lake City High, $8,715; and Coeur d'Alene High, $6,600.
Visit cdabackpackprogram.org for details and to donate.
Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program volunteer and kindergarten mom Kait McKay, on March 3, grabs a box of food items destined for local schools for students facing food insecurity.
Pasta cups, crackers, cereal and other shelf-stable items are among the foods included in Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program food kits to stave off hunger for schoolkids in need during weekends and holiday breaks. The program, which relies on community funding, is running out of money and may not continue past this school year without additional support.ARTICLES BY DEVIN WEEKS
Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program needs help to keep feeding kids
Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program needs help to keep feeding kids
A program that keeps kids fed when they're out of school for weekends and holiday breaks is facing financially lean days. "We are out of money and our program will not last past this school year," Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program Vice President Jennifer Branstetter told The Press in a Feb. 23 email.
Curtain rises for James and the Giant Peach
Past students specially invited to attend closing night Thursday
Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities and the Sorensen Theater Team present "James and the Giant Peach" at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday in the school's gym.
Literacy Project of North Idaho issues reading challenge to community
A million pages. That's the challenge the Literacy Project of North Idaho, a nonprofit, is issuing to people of all ages and reading levels in a sweeping effort to unite the community through a friendly competition while reducing the stigma associated with low literacy.