While surrounding tables sat down to fresh fish and burgers, Mayor Tim Leavitt and his guest Kenny Dunn dined on whole-wheat pasta with tuna and peas and boxed mac-and-cheese served by Beaches Restaurant.
The two men’s Tuesday lunch is representative of those sent home to low-income students as part of Share’s Backpack Program.
Dunn was the high bidder for Lunch with the Mayor, an item up for grabs at a silent auction at Endeavour Elementary, where Dunn’s son attends school. Dunn used the lunch as an opportunity to discuss the backpack program and its community impact with the mayor.
“I’ve been basically scheming this plan ever since,” Dunn said.
As a volunteer with Share, Dunn sorts food in the warehouse weekly and manages an ongoing food drive at BNSF Railway, where he works as a locomotive engineer.
“Share gets a lot of press, but the Backpack Program in particular is what I’m trying to highlight,” he said. “That’s my big endgame of all of this: educating people like me who don’t know that kids are hungry right in their own neighborhoods — and that there is something they can do about it.”
The meal was the most unique Leavitt has eaten at Beaches, he said, and likely the most unique the restaurant has served.
“But you’re supporting a good cause,” Dunn said.
How the Backpack Program works
Every Wednesday morning, Share purchases four pallets of food from the Oregon Food Bank. That food is sorted by volunteers into food groups. Each bag will contain a fruit or vegetable, a boxed dinner — almost always mac-and-cheese — a canned dinner like tomato soup or chili, a canned protein (usually tuna), a snack (typically applesauce) and a bread or grain. In recent memory, bread was a regular option for kids, but that resource has dried up, Dunn said. Children are typically sent home with whole-wheat pasta instead.
“Kids getting a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, they’re good for definitely the whole weekend and into the week,” Dunn said. “And they can take care of themselves.”
The bags are assembled on Thursdays and delivered to each school for distribution by school counselors. Counselors put bags directly into students’ backpacks to avoid embarrassing those receiving food supplies.
“I think most people don’t realize how many children there are in our community that are not guaranteed to eat a meal,” Dunn said.
The program serves 1,445 students at the moment, but that number is expected to increase. At the end of the 2016-17 school year, more than 2,000 students participated in the backpack program.
The more students sign up, the more food Share diverts from its donation bin into backpacks. Dunn said that if donations match the items typically reserved for the backpack program, those items will benefit local children. Peanut butter, for example, is typically sent home once a month. But only if donated jars are around 8 ounces; large jars aren’t sent home.
Additional sources of protein and snacks are also needed.
“When I’m packing bags, I like to sneak a few extra snacks into the bag,” Dunn said. “That’s a big thing psychologically for a child. It’s a treat. It doesn’t always have to be nutritious. Kids like to look forward to something. ”
Dunn said the community can even donate from the comforts of home. With food delivery services like Amazon’s Prime Now, anyone can order a case of peanut butter and send it directly to Share’s Fromhold Service Center.
“You don’t even have to get off the couch,” he said.
For Dunn, advocating for the backpack program and doing his part is his way of ensuring the next generation has a fair shot at success.
“Childhood hunger is devastating to the economy in the long run,” he said, adding that hungry students have a harder time absorbing information. “You can take baby steps to do something for your community and this is a great start.”
Leavitt said the program is just one way to help break the cycle of poverty. After the lunch, Leavitt said he will look into a donation barrel for his office and replace the backpack program food he consumed by raiding his cupboards and dropping off a donation to Share.
“If we don’t do this we’re depriving very economically disadvantaged children of a guaranteed meal,” Dunn said. “I think that’s something everyone can get behind.”
