Food Backpacks 4 Kids Becomes Food 4 All

The resources that the community entrusts to the organization are really protected. We make planned decisions for long-term resources. We want to be strategic. It will be the heart of the community.”

Food Backpacks 4 Kids came from a group of community church members who met in the fall of 2008 to address one of the community’s most pressing needs. Children were coming to school hungry, and they wanted to do something about it.

One of the attendees knew of a food backpack program in Belfair. Using that as a model, local churches began collecting food and packing it into backpacks at the Peninsula Lutheran Church in Lakebay to deliver to Key Peninsula schools.

“We packed nine backpacks in March of 2009,” said founder Karen Jorgenson in a 2019 interview with KP News. “By the end of the year, we had 45 kids a week, and the next year we had 500.” Jorgenson served as the volunteer executive director for 10 years.

The program spread, and soon staff at Evergreen Elementary School were packing backpacks. Each contained about eight pounds of food to supplement a family of four for a weekend, or about 3,000 pounds each week, including snacks, fruits and vegetables, and ingredients for meals, with instructions on how to prepare them. The empty backpack would be returned to school on Monday.

From this rudimentary beginning, the routine became a program that expanded over 15 years to include Key Peninsula Middle School, then other schools in the district. FB4K started a food pantry, food care cupboards in schools, a holiday meal program, and meal delivery for homebound people.

In 2018, FB4K partnered with Communities in Schools of Peninsula to stock pantries in Peninsula district high schools and middle schools, giving students access to grab-and-go foods during the week. It also assisted the CISP summer literacy program, where students get a hot lunch with a three-hour reading lesson at every elementary school on the KP, and Harbor Heights and Discovery in Gig Harbor.

Now, organization members are dreaming bigger.

The original vision for FB4K has blossomed into an initiative to address the nutritional needs of all residents on the Key Peninsula. Countering food insecurity, while promoting local food production and economic sustainability for food producers, is the new goal of the organization. Its objectives include cultivating community engagement and enhanced food distribution networks.

FB4K purchased property in Key Center in 2024 and began developing the Food 4 All program, with the intention of expanding services. The newly acquired land and building are being developed to include cultivated land, egg production, and a farmstand open to the public just south of Key Center on the KP Highway. The renovated building will serve as its office, a public meeting space, and the Family Resource Center.

“We are building our dreams; we are committed to moving to our property this summer, and all our operations will be there,” said Zaida Woodworth, executive director of Food 4 All. “Our core programs aren’t changing. The name change seemed like a logical step in the development of the organization. While Food 4 All will continue the Food Backpacks 4 Kids program, the services and opportunities offered are now encompassing so much more.”

Board member Olga Inglebritson said, “The need and the expectation of the community and our county on the organization has grown. As resources have left the community, Food 4 All has picked it up, so that the community has not been left without. Those backpacks that were provided in the beginning have become so much more. Hence, the name change to Food 4 All. It’s not just for children anymore.”

Financial support for the procurement of the property has come from donations, local government, supportive action from state Sen. Deb Krishnadasan (D-26th, Gig Harbor) and Rep. Adison Richards (D-26th, Gig Harbor), the Pierce County Council, and the Key Peninsula Community Council.

“We do need more money for some of the renovations we need to do, and that is what our capital campaign is all about,” Woodworth said. “Most of our support is from community hands-on help like Kiwi Fencing and Wilco.”

Other community partners include the Madrona Café, Take Charge Electric, the Key Peninsula Business Association, and the Angel Guild.

Kiwi Fencing’s Warwick Bryant said, “They put their heart and soul into it. We like to grow food. We like what they’re trying to do. We like to help local people. We have a kinship with them as farmers. They are having a big impact on the local community, and we want to support that.”

“The farmstand was wildly successful. Not only did we get amazing feedback from the people who came and bought our produce, but we turned a profit from it,” Woodworth said. “We will be assisting local farmers to sell their produce as well. Part of our goal is to make local food more accessible. Volunteers man the produce stand. We depend on the volunteers to make sure the produce gets there on time. We can always use more volunteers.”

“Everything we are doing is for our community, and it’s being done by our community, and everyone is welcome,” Inglebritson said. “The resources that the community entrusts to the organization are really protected. We make planned decisions for long-term resources. We want to be strategic. It will be the heart of the community.”

Learn more online at foodbackpacks4kids.org.