The Starfish Pack Backpack Program was originally created in Abbotsford in response to teachers hearing the cry of their students. Teachers were heartbroken to hear their students were coming to class Monday morning hungry, reporting that they had not eaten over the weekend. Since hunger and food insecurity impacts all of our communities, a local group wanted to bring the initiative to Surrey.
Starfish Pack Plus is a collaborative program (Rotary Clubs, SD#36, City of Surrey and others) intended to address food access issues for children in Surrey. Currently, the program is operating within SD 36 at an elementary school located in the Guildford area. The program began by serving ten children in late September 2016.
The initiative was spearheaded by a local collaboration called Seeds of Change Surrey. The group is leading the initiative through Surrey/White Rock Food Action Coalition and is working to address some of the critical food security needs in two town centres in Surrey, Newton and Guildford. The “Plus” in the Starfish Pack Plus improvedupon the original nutritional content of the backpacks to help improve health outcomes of children and families say FAC Coordinator, Deirdre Goudriaan. Additionally, the group is working towards recipe development for the contents of the backpack and connections to community gardens and kitchens to help improve the food literacy of impacted families.
For more information on the program please see http://starfishpack.com/surrey/ More information and content will be released soon.