School District 73 carries on with Starfish Backpack program as students learn from home

KAMLOOPS – During a normal school year, the Kamloops-Thompson School District works with community partners to provide food for students in need.

There are numerous families in Kamloops who do not have the financial means to provide three full meals a day.

The school district has committed to continuing to provide food for students through the Starfish Backpack program, but has had to rework how food is distributed.

On Thursday (Apr. 16), school district employees were working to fill bags with food for vulnerable students and families.

“We currently have 140 backpacks that are made once a week for students at 13 different schools and it’s enough food for the weekend,” said Vessy Mochikas, the school district’s director of elementary education and learning services.

Previously the school district had partnered with the Kamloops Food Bank and the United Way to provide food for students through the Starfish Backpack program.

“Since we have returned to school from Spring Break, the food bank, as you can imagine, has been overwhelmed with trying to meet the demand of citizens in Kamloops so the school district has taken on the Starfish Backpack program,” Mochikas said. “Canuel Caterers, who does our lunch program, has been kind enough to connect us with their food vendors.”

Each week, a shipment of food is delivered to the Bert Edwards Science and Technology School, where it is placed into bags and distributed to other schools or delivered to the homes of students.

Those who are sorting the food had held different roles before the schools were closed to the public.

Dean Mayo would normally be driving a school bus.

“It is nice (to help) because we do see a lot of that where the students maybe don’t have what they need,” Mayo said. “So, to be able to help out in a meaningful way, it feels good at this time.”

Amanda Nikula is a Certified Education Assistant at Bert Edwards. Her days are now filled with the work she does for the food program.

“It keeps me busy,” she said. “I’m filling my time and it’s a meaningful job, so I’m happy to be doing it.”

School District 73 is also delivering some of the bags to the Boys & Girls Club of Kamloops.

Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Traci Anderson said the non-profit had reached out to the school district to see if any additional support was needed.

“They had asked us if we could help deliver some of their Starfish Backpack hampers and we said, ‘of course,’” Anderson said. “So we’re delivering to our kids that we are normally dropping off the breakfasts off to.”

The Boys & Girls Club has been delivering breakfast to 95 families three days a week through the Power Start Program.

Next week, the program will move to a five-days-a-week schedule.

“We made the decision early on that we weren’t just going to serve the kids that we normally serve breakfast to, but that we are going to serve all the kids in the family, so if they have youngers in there as well we’re going to be serving them breakfast as well,” Anderson said.

As COVID-19 continues to impact the finances of members of the community, both the Boys & Girls Club and the school district expect the demand to increase.

“I know that there is a need and so when you’ve got families that rely on this once a week to get them through or for the weekend or whatever,” Nikula said. “It’s sad to think that if it stopped they would be without what they’re getting. So, just because we’re not in session for schools doesn’t mean that families don’t need to be fed.”