WEEKEND BACKPACK

PROGRAM TOOLKIT
Everything you need to start a Weekend Backpack
Program in your Massachusetts community

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

1
Welcome

So you are interested in starting a Weekend Backpack Program in your

community? We can help!

I founded the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program in 2013 and joined Food For Free,
along with the program, in 2016. During that time, I have mentored teams in many
communities to help them get started, too. The Food For Free team has put together this
guide to help make it easier for other communities to start their own Weekend Backpack
Programs. In this Toolkit, you’ll find everything you need to know to get started.

We want to express a heartfelt note of gratitude to Hunger Free Colorado for providing the
groundwork for this Massachusetts based Toolkit. Many of us who have started Weekend
Backpack Programs in Massachusetts have used this valuable resource and are grateful
to them for their work in this area.

Alanna Mallon
Founder, the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program
Food For Free’s K-12 Strategic Advisor

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

2
Table of Contents

What is a Weekend Backpack Program? 4

How to start a program in your community 5

Determining need 6

Getting started 7

Funding 8

Food procurement 11

Menus 12

Logistics 13

Assessments 14

Forms 15

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

3
What is a Weekend Backpack Program?
In Massachusetts, over 440,000 students qualify for free/reduced price school meals, and 1 in 5
children are considered food insecure. Our most at risk students for food insecurity are also the
ones who are most affected by the achievement gap, and poor academic outcomes that can have
lifelong effects. These students rely on their school cafeterias for the majority of their nutrition
during the week. These supports do not exist over the weekend, so many school districts have
Weekend Backpack Programs. Weekend Backpack Programs send food home discreetly on Fridays
to ensure students are well fed over the weekend and can come in Monday mornings, ready to
learn.

Weekend Backpack Programs are not a new idea. The first one was founded in 1995 by a school
nurse in Little Rock, Arkansas who noticed that students often came to her office on Mondays
complaining of stomach aches and headaches, and realized that many of these students ate little
to no food over the weekend. She partnered with her local food bank, the Arkansas Rice Depot, and
started sending groceries home in their backpacks on Fridays to combat the issue and noticed a
change in behavior right away.
Since then, Weekend Backpack Programs have
proliferated nationally, and have been shown to
decrease absenteeism, behavioral trips to the
principal’s office, and trips the school nurse for
hunger related ailments.

All of these factors lead to more instructional time in

the classroom for students, which lead to better
academic outcomes for children living in poverty.
This is a powerful argument to make when speaking
with school administration about the need for a
program in your school or district.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

4
 How to Start a Program in Your Community
As of 2019, there are over 30 Weekend Backpack Programs in Massachusetts, and more cities
and towns are adding them each year as awareness grows about their efficacy in providing a
critical resource to our students.

We created this Toolkit to provide background, steps to take to start a Weekend Backpack
Program, forms and assessment sample documents, how to connect with your local food bank
or pantry, fiscal agency, fundraising, and everything else you need to create a successful
Weekend Backpack Program.

In 2017,
the food insecurity
rate in Massachusetts
was 27% higher than it was
46% 54%
Free & Paid 10 years ago.
Source: Project Bread
reduced meals “Get the Facts”
meals

Statewide 46% of students qualify for

free and reduced price school meals.
Source: Report -“Ending Hunger in our Classrooms - First annual report”
EOS Foundation & Children’s Healthwatch

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

5
Determining Need
How do I know if my school needs a Weekend Backpack Program?

The first step in determining the need in your school is assessing the number of students who
qualify for free/reduced price school meals. This information can be obtained from your school
principal, or Project Bread’s Child Nutrition Outreach Program (Massachusetts school districts only,
email: cnop@[Link]), which can request that information from the school nutrition
department.

Massachusetts is generally thought of as a wealthy, well resourced

state, but nearly 1 in 5 children experience food insecurity.
Source: Project Bread “Get the Facts”

Massachusetts no longer tracks free/reduced price school meals information online, instead it uses
a new category called “economically disadvantaged.” You can view this information online at the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to see a breakdown by
school. Visit their site ([Link] search for your school district by typing in the
search box, and then click “Schools” next to “district” in the upper right. Use the dropdown box to
select the school, and click the orange arrow. Once the school comes up, click the tab marked
“Students” and then click “selected populations” from the menu on the left. There is a category called
economically disadvantaged which shows how many students direct certify into other federal
anti-poverty programs, like MassHealth ([Link] WIC ([Link] or
SNAP ([Link] or students who are in foster care or homeless. Because this number
does not take into account annual household income data, it is not as helpful as the free/reduced
price school meals number. However, it is another data point to reference in determining need.

Students who consistently start their day with a healthy meal

had an average 17.5% increase in their standardized math
scores over students who skip breakfast.
Source: Share our Strength

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

6
What is the First Step to Getting Started?
Once you determine that there is a need for such a program in your school, the first step is to
schedule a meeting with your school principal to discuss the program, the need, and how it
might work. Make sure to do your homework before this meeting as it may be your only shot to
sell your case!

Tips for talking with your principal:

● Have the facts about your district — What percentage of kids are eligible for free or
reduced lunch? Does your city provide data on poverty levels? What food resources
already exist?

● Ask that the school nurse or counselor attend the meeting as they may have anecdotal
stories about students in your school that can help determine need.

● Have a plan, like the one outlined in this Toolkit, for how the program will work
logistically and who will pay for it. School administrators are often overwhelmed with
curriculum requirements and the program will need to be low impact on the school
staff in order to be approved.

● Determine what your space needs will be before the meeting. Will you need onsite
storage during the week/on Fridays? Will the bags be packed off site and delivered?
These requirements will help the school administration visualize the impact on space
needed, which is often at a premium.

When asking for the meeting, you can send your principal this short interview
that aired on RadioBoston in 2014 that may be helpful in showcasing how a
school principal views this program and how it’s helping their families:
[Link]

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

7
Funding
Funding sources can vary from program to program, and even within a program it can vary from
year to year! Some programs are supported by their local food bank or food pantry, some are 100%
community funded through donations, some are funded through their local or state budget. We
suggest, at first, soliciting community donations to support the program, and using the opportunity
to talk about childhood food insecurity in your community. Host a fundraising movie night with “A
Place at the Table” ([Link] have a citywide panel
discussion with local anti-hunger advocates, initiate a social media campaign around childhood
hunger and academic outcomes.

Raising awareness of how prevalent the issue is in your community will help with funding. Figure
out how much the program will cost per child, per year, and ask people to sponsor a student, or a
family for an academic school year. Local banks and organizations are great places to apply for
grants to help fund the program, local grocery stores are great places to connect with for donations
or discounts on food. Think about contacting your local elected officials; school committee/school
board, city or town government leaders, and your State Representatives and Senators to engage
them on issues of funding for your program.

How much does it cost?

Each program is different, but a general price range to think about is between
$2.00-6.00 per bag depending on where food is purchased, how much labor is
involved, and if you are purchasing in bulk.

What if I am not set up as a non-profit? Do I need to create a non-profit?

If you aren’t a non-profit and don’t have a 501(c)(3) status, it is a good idea to find a non-profit that
would be willing to act as your fiscal sponsor. These organizations will help administer receiving
donations and paying invoices in exchange for a small administrative fee. As you grow, you may
want to look for a more sustainable home for your program in a non-profit that is serving the same
mission in your community.

If possible, it can be helpful to approach this non-profit in a time of success and stability in your
program instead of a time of despair. Approaching the organization can be difficult, and fully
preparing for this is important. Make sure to have your financials in line to show the full cost of the
program, have a solid understanding or record of the number of hours spent on the program each
week by staff and volunteers, and your plan for what this transition would look like.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

8
Who is eligible to participate in this program?

The program should be open and available to any family in the school who needs it, and should
have a rolling admission process. Families may need it for a few weeks, or months, to get them
through a difficult time, or need to be added mid-year due to a financial situation. Qualifying
students based on participation in the free/reduced price school meals program may miss many of
the very students that need the program the most. These students may have families who:

● Do not understand the federal free/reduced price school meals program form
● Whose first language isn’t English
● May not have returned the form on time
● Missed the cut off by just a few dollars
● Don’t want to sign a government form

When starting a program, making the time to understand the challenges and limitations of these
income based programs will be critical in ensuring that any family that may benefit from having
additional food on the weekend feels comfortable participating.

10.2%
of Massachusetts
households

Approximately 723,000 adults and

children are food insecure.
Source: USDA-ERA 2017 Household Food Insecurity Report
(released Sept 2018)

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

9
 How are students identified?

Each school has a student support team that

consists of the principal, assistant principal,
school adjustment counselor, and school nurse
that meets regularly. This team would meet to
discuss which students they think would most
benefit from this program. It is important that
they include the cafeteria manager in this
conversation. The cafeteria manager is always
the most knowledgeable in determining who is
most in need because they know who comes
back for seconds, and who steals or hoards food.

You may want to keep participants unknown to you, keeping the privacy between the families and
the school. To do so, the school will need to be responsible for signing up students and maintaining
an up-to-date list. The school would then share the number of students participating, and no names
would be used. On the other hand you may want to have more data about the students participating
each year for record keeping. It will be important to determine if your program will have this firewall,
or if you will require more data sharing.

How do students sign up?

An opt-in form should be sent home with every student at the beginning of each school year. Once
the forms are returned by the families, the student support team should cross check the forms
against the students they had previously determined would benefit from the Backpack Program to
ensure they signed up. If there are gaps in who has signed up, the team would reach out to the
family personally to see if they are interested in having their children participate. Families may not
fully understand what it means to be involved in the program or if they need to meet certain
requirements. This is a time to clarify. If language is a barrier, the school may have translation
resources that will help explain the program to the family.

→ Download a customizable sample opt-in in form at [Link]

Do siblings get bags?

Yes. Each child in the home should receive a weekly bag of food, otherwise
they will split the food. This includes children who may be too young to
attend school.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

10
Food Procurement
Where do you get food?

Food can come from a variety of places. You can open an account with your school department
food supplier, which allows you to use their deep discount, but keep your own accounting and
invoicing. You can also purchase food from Costco, and specialty items (like soy milk) from
grocery stores. Your local food pantry may be able to donate certain items that you use a lot, like
applesauce cups, mac-n-cheese, cans of tuna, etc. You can also open an account with your food
bank. There are a lot of options to purchase or receive free/reduced items.

Should I accept food donations?

Yes, but we suggest that you ask for very specific things. For example, an item we use is shelf
stable milk, but it is expensive and we use it each week. When corporations or groups ask if they
can donate we ask them to do a milk drive. This ensures we get items that will help us cut costs
and can be easily donated. Keep a list of items that people can easily donate that would be
helpful to you. It's important to try to keep food consistent across all students involved in the
program. If you are soliciting donations for specific items, you might want to consider what
happens if you don’t receive enough for all students. Will you purchase more? Or have another
fundraiser?

What do I do over long weekends and school vacations?

Over long weekends or vacations you can send extra food home with
students, but be mindful of the weight of each bag. For the winter break, think
about sending home grocery store gift cards to cover food costs.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

11
Menus
What goes in the bags?

Each program handles what type of food they send home differently; the bags can be all
shelf-stable foods or can include fresh food, which requires refrigeration and food safety handling.
Some programs send the same food each week, some programs rotate the menu for more options
and variety. In all cases, the bags typically contain 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and some healthy
snacks. These are the meals that students would have access to in a typical school day.

→ Download sample menus from the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program at

[Link]

What about allergies or dietary restrictions?

There are many dietary restrictions to be concerned

about, including nut allergies and lactose intolerance,
as well as dietary restrictions for personal or religious
reasons, like students who are kosher, halal, or
vegetarian. It is important to collect dietary restriction
information on the opt-in forms and have this tracked
by school. You can avoid these allergies and
restrictions by having a nut free, dairy and meat free
program, or you can develop a menu and system that
helps to work to get each student a bag that is right
for them.

Some programs mitigate these allergies by providing meat free, high protein sandwiches for the
kosher/halal/vegetarian students, replacing sunbutter for peanut butter in sandwiches, replacing
milk and cheese sticks with soy milk and meat sticks, and more. It will be important to determine
the level of organization that you want to take on with your own program.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

12
Logistics
Who packs the bags?

To ensure that this program has a light impact on school staff, Weekend Backpack Programs
usually use parent volunteers, corporate groups, and community members to pack the bags
each week, either onsite or at a central location. Volunteers pack the bags onsite or deliver them
on Friday morning and safely store them so that school staff can distribute them at the end of
the day on Friday. Many corporations have social responsibility programs and organized days of
service, and can bring their energy to your program. They have the added benefit of being future
large scale donors. We suggest using an online volunteer site to organize volunteers, like
VolunteerSpot or SignUp Genius to ensure you have enough volunteers each Friday.

What kind of supplies will I need?

Big plastic tubs to store and tote food, and rolls of blue painters tape to label tubs. We use
colored stickers to affix to bags that indicate if they are vegetarian, or nut free, etc., for ease of
distribution. If you are assembling any of the food on your own, you will need tablecloths that
can be cleaned with a sanitizer spray, disposable gloves, and ziploc bags for appropriate items.

What kind of bags or backpacks will I need each week?

This depends on the type of program you have, and the type of food you send home. In many
programs, they use plastic grocery store bags, or the black plastic bags you get at a liquor store,
which can be purchased in bulk. These bags are then placed inside a child’s existing backpack
that go home. Other programs use reusable bags (insulated if they are sending fresh food home)
that require students to bring them back each week to be refilled. Again, this just depends on
each program and how they would like to organize weekly.

If you are holding a fundraiser here are some things to ask for:
Mac-n-cheese cups, fruit/applesauce cups, oatmeal packets, cereal
bars/granola bars, cereal cups, pretzels/chips, cup-a-soup, and shelf stable
milk.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

13
Assessments
How do I know it’s helping?

At the end of each school year, you can send a sample survey for teachers to fill out for each
child in their class who was enrolled in the program. Each child who is enrolled can be asked to
advise which foods they liked and ate vs. which they didn’t. This can be done by having the child
circle pictures of the foods they liked and crossing out the ones they didn’t. All of this data
should be collected and reported out to the schools and to donors.

→ Download a customizable sample survey at [Link]

How can you talk with other students about hunger in schools or about your
Backpack Program?

It's important to find a way to engage students in your program without making students who
participate in the program feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. Maintaining the anonymity of
students and families that participate in the program is extremely important, but bringing
attention to your program is also very beneficial. One way to talk to students about hunger in
their classroom and about your program is to engage with clubs at school. You might be able to
talk to students that are part of a service club or in a classroom with a teacher that is an
advocate for addressing childhood hunger.

In Somerville, this connection was made with the Roots & Shoots club at the Brown Elementary
School. This club is part of Jane Goodall’s mission to bring youth together to address
environmental, conservation, and humanitarian issues. Many of the students in the club couldn’t
believe that there were students in their community that didn’t have enough to eat on the
weekends. They decided to have a fundraiser for the Backpack Program and after lots of
brainstorming, the students decided to host a table at the Somerville Winter Farmers Market to
sell crafts that they made together. These students raised about $1,000 to help students in their
community.

Talking with students about hunger offers the opportunity for them to engage in a tangible way if
they are interested in planning an action to address hunger. This is a really great opportunity to
teach them about the difficulties that families face in their community.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

14
 FREE Weekend Food for Your Child/Children Available!
The Name of School participates in the Weekend Backpack Program to offer a supply of nutritious
meals and snacks for children over the weekend, free of charge if you are struggling to meet your
family’s food needs and would benefit from receiving additional [Link] staff will discreetly
distribute weekend bags on the last school day before the weekend. Any child enrolled at the Name
of School is able to receive these weekly bags of food. The program will begin on Start Date. If your
family is enrolled, your child/children will receive a bag of food each week until the end of the
school year or until you no longer wish to participate.

If you feel that your children would benefit from receiving additional food to meet their nutritional
needs over the weekend, we encourage you to sign them up by filling the form out below and
returning it to the front office. Enrollment is ongoing, however, the sooner your form is returned the
sooner we can start sending food home. Please send this form back to School/Program Contact by
date if you are interested! Only one form is needed for all the children in your family, but include
information for each child in the form below. If you have a child or children who attend other
City/Town Public Schools, please include that information below. This information will be kept
confidential between you and the staff at the Name of School. Questions or concerns? Please
contact name, email, number of School/Program Contact.

Weekend Backpack Program Consent Form

Please sign my child/children up for the Weekend Food program! I understand my child/children will
soon start receiving a bag of food at the end of each week to help feed him/her over the weekend.
PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY.

Special Dietary Needs

Child’s Name Age School and Grade (None, Kosher, Halal,
(if applicable) Vegetarian, Nut Free, etc.)

Parent/Guardian Name_________________________________________________________________
Telephone Number (if any) ______________________________________________________________
Parent/Guardian Email Address (if any) ____________________________________________________
Are you currently living in a shelter Y / N (Please circle)
Are you currently “doubled up” Y / N (Please circle)
*Please send the form in via your child’s communication folder in a sealed envelope addressed to
School/Program Contact*

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
15
 Name of Your Program Info for Families
The Name of Your Program provides a weekend supply of nutritious food for children when school
lunch and breakfast is unavailable on a weekend or school holiday. Each food bag contains two
breakfasts, two lunches, two snacks, one can of vegetables, one can of fruit, and additional items
(milk, fruit, etc.). All food is provided to children free of charge. It is our hope that these resources
will support the health, behavior, and achievement of every student who participates.

Though the program is intended to help those children whose families find it difficult to have
enough food for the entire month, all children are eligible for this program. Information to sign up
for the program will be sent home with kids in the coming weeks.

The program is run completely by wonderful volunteers who help pack the food bags. The program
is funded through the generous gifts of funding sources.

Look for more information about becoming part of Name of Program soon. We look forward to
working with staff, teachers, and you for your children!

For more information or questions, please contact Name of Program Leader at

Contact Information for Program.

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
16
 Name of Your Program Info for Teachers
What is the Name of Your Program?

The Name of Your Program provides a weekend supply of nutritious food for children, commonly for
low income families, to replace the school meals that children miss during their weekend or
extended breaks from school. Each weekend food bag contains enough food for two breakfasts,
two lunches, two snacks, and one can of vegetables and one can of fruit. All food is nonperishable.

Though the program is intended to help those children whose families find it difficult to have
enough food for the entire month, all children are eligible for this program. Children will be able to
opt-in and opt-out of the program. We invite your help finding children who will benefit most from
participating in this program!

The program is run completely by wonderful volunteers who help coordinate with your school to
sign children up, pack food bags weekly, and find and organize fundraising and donation drives that
keep the program running. The program is funded through the generous gifts of funding sources.

How can teachers help?

As teachers, you already go out of your way daily for your students. It is our intention that Name of
Your Program will not increase your workload or responsibilities. Please help us by:

1. Recommending any of your students who you think would benefit from having this food
assistance and participating in this program;

2. Letting us know how the program is benefiting your children and ways to improve the
program for your students.

We invite your feedback and collaboration with this program to make it a success. It is our hope that
this program will improve the health, behavior, and achievement of your students. Thank you in
advance for your help!

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
17
 Teacher Survey
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this form for each of your students enrolled in the Weekend
Backpack Program. This end-of-year survey helps us determine whether you've seen a noticeable
impact of the program and find ways to improve the program.

Student’s First Name __________________________________

Teacher’s Name __________________________________

School Name __________________________________

Part 1: Program Impact

A. Since the beginning of the year, the frequency with which I have observed that this student:

Has Has stayed Has Don’t

decreased the same increased know

Tires easily, has little energy

Has trouble concentrating

Is absent from school

Visits the doctor/nurse with

doctor/nurse finding nothing wrong

Has trouble sleeping

Worries a lot

B. Since becoming a part of the Weekend Backpack Program, has this student’s:

Gotten worse Stayed the same Improved

School work

Behavior

Health

Attendance

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
18
C. Do you have additional stories or anecdotes you would like to share about the program or any
additional comments on the measures listed above?

So we can avoid sending home foods that go uneaten, please fill out the following section with each
student if possible.

Directions: Circle food items that are enjoyed/consumed by the student

✗ Cross out food items that are not enjoyed/consumed by the student
? Mark a “?” on food items that you do not know the child’s preference

Yogurt String Cheese Grilled Cheese Apple

Sandwich

Peanut Butter & Applesauce Oatmeal Bagel

Jelly Sandwich

Cereal Anytimers Fresh Sandwich

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
19
 School Name - Week 1 School Name - Week 2
Week 1 - No restrictions Week 2 - No restrictions
Meat Sandwich & Veggie Pack Meat Sandwich & Veggie Pack
Grilled Cheese Ham & Cheese
Yogurt Bagel & Cream Cheese
Oatmeal Cheese Stick
Cheese Stick Cereal Cup
Granola Bar Applesauce
Pretzels or Cheez Its Pretzels
Milk Milk
(2) Fresh Fruit (2) Fresh Fruit

Week 1 - Vegetarian Week 2 - Vegetarian

Vegetarian Sandwich & Veggie Pack Vegetarian Sandwich & Veggie Pack
Grilled Cheese PB&J or Grilled Cheese
Yogurt Bagel & Cream Cheese
Oatmeal Cheese Stick
Cheese Stick Cereal Cup
Granola Bar Applesauce
Pretzels or Cheez Its Pretzels
Milk Milk
(2) Fresh Fruit (2) Fresh Fruit

School Name - Week 3 School Name - Week 4

Week 3 - No restrictions Week 4 - No restrictions
Turkey/Bacon Grilled Cheese PB&J
Meat Sandwich & Veggies Meat Sandwich & Veggie Pack
Oatmeal Bagel & Cream Cheese
Yogurt Cereal Cup
Cheesestick Cheese Stick
Nutrigrain Bars Animal Crackers
Goldfish Fruit Cup
(2) Fresh Fruit Milk
Milk (2) Fresh Fruit

Week 3 - Vegetarian Week 4 - Vegetarian

Grilled Cheese PB&J
Vegetarian Sandwich & Veggie Pack Vegetarian Sandwich & Veggie Pack
Oatmeal Bagel & Cream Cheese
Yogurt Cereal Cup
Cheesestick Cheese Stick
Nutrigrain Bars Animal Crackers
Goldfish Fruit Cup
Milk Milk
(2) Fresh Fruit (2) Fresh Fruit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit
20
Let’s stay in touch!
We hope that our Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit will help kickstart your Weekend
Backpack Program. Please visit our website to find more resources online including a directory
of current backpack programs in Massachusetts.:
[Link]

We also have a MA Weekend Backpack Program community on Facebook:

[Link]

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this Toolkit or need assistance with
starting up your program.

Food For Free

11 Inman Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
[Link]
alanna@[Link]

Weekend Backpack Program Toolkit

21