Big News! Backpacks for Bend Has Relaunched!
I am excited to share that Backpacks for Bend, one of our core programs at The Giving Plate, has officially relaunched and will continue through the end of the school year!
We had our first packing day this past week as part of the soft relaunch! FAN Advocates in the Bend-La Pine Schools have been distributing our updated enrollment forms to parents throughout April, and thanks to those efforts, we were able to provide food to 25 students and packed 50 bags to start.
We’re already preparing for our next packing day. So far, we’ll be sending about 60 bags to two La Pine schools and two Bend schools, with the potential of that number growing as enrollment forms are returned by FAN Advocates. This slow and steady rebuild allows us to better understand where the need is truly at—and to ensure we’re reaching the right students.
What we’re learning is encouraging: many of the families initially identified as needing support through Backpacks for Bend are already accessing services at our Community Store. To us, that’s great news. Our Community Store offers so much more than just weekend survival food—it provides full grocery support and a dignified, empowering experience for families.
Backpacks for Bend was designed to serve children who face the highest barriers to food access—those who can’t get to The Giving Plate due to transportation, financial, or family circumstances. Through this program, we send shelf-stable weekend food to the school that the identified children attend to help bridge the gap when school meals aren't available. It helps kids get through the weekend, but our deeper mission is to help kids and their families get through the hard things they're facing. That’s what we’re committed to.
Since taking over the program in 2018, your support has helped us serve thousands of students. Earlier this year, we made the difficult decision to pause the program following a 60% surge in participation and a growing overlap with our Kid’s Korner Market services. Through collaboration with Bend-La Pine Schools and their FAN (Family Access Network) staff, we realized that with clearer communication about the program’s purpose, we could immediately reduce participation by at least 50%, better targeting the students who truly need it most.
This pause allowed us to develop:
A new process to properly qualify students and an updated Parent Permission Slip
A consistent, district-wide distribution plan
Stronger data tracking to support accountability and grants
A Personal Note
We know there’s still some misinformation in the community about why we paused this program and how it’s being relaunched. In the spirit of transparency, I want to be clear: this pause was intentional, necessary, and rooted in our responsibility to serve families well and steward community support wisely.
If you have any questions, concerns, or simply want to better understand what’s changed—I truly welcome the conversation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly. Your trust means the world, and I’m always happy to talk about the heart behind our work.
How You Can Help
We’re deeply grateful to First Interstate Bank, who continues to partner with us by packing food bags every other week throughout the school year. But we still need your help:
Donate: Your gift goes directly into feeding children who can't access the other services of The Giving Plate www.thegivingplate.org/donate.
Spread the Word: Help us correct misinformation by sharing this email, and encourage people with questions to reach out to us directly. Your support with this means so much.
A note from Kinsey Martin: Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy & Equity Civil Rights & Title IX Coordinator, Bend-La Pine Schools & FAN Supervisor -
“Our team here in Bend-La Pine Schools is thrilled to continue—and even strengthen—our partnership with The Giving Plate. We serve so many students who need support with meals in order to learn and thrive. The Giving Plate's snack bags program is critical in addressing this need—we could not do our work without their partnership.”
Kinsey Martin (Bend-La Pine Schools), Dr. Steve Cook (Bend-La Pine Superintendent) and Ranae Staley at the FAN Luncheon in April.
We know that pauses can be difficult and sometimes misunderstood, but this one was never meant to be permanent. It was a necessary and intentional step to protect the long-term health and impact of the program.
Today, we’re confident that this reset brings the program back to its true purpose—reaching the children who need it most—while honoring our commitment to compassion, dignity, and stewardship.
Thank you for walking alongside us in this journey. Your support is the reason this program exists—and the reason it will continue to thrive.
With gratitude,
Ranae Staley, Executive Director
ranae@thegivingplate.org
