By Megan Campbell

mcampbell@issaquahreporter.com

Last year, Pantry Packs, in partnership with Hopelink’s food banks, provided more than 450 students in 27 Lake Washington School District (LWSD) schools every Friday with food for the weekend.

That need has grown, as already 554 students have registered for the program this year.

But Pantry Packs, the volunteer-led food assistance program, cannot meet the needs of students in Sammamish, Redmond and Kirkland without help from the public.

In partnership with Feed Washington, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger throughout the state, Hopelink and Pantry Packs kicks off an 11-day social media campaign today to raise awareness and create a recurring fund for those hungry students in the LWSD.

Organizers hope to raise $10,000 per month to meet the need, Feed Washington President Eirik Olsen said.

“It has to be recurring if it’s going to be a solution,” Olsen said. “(Because) hunger is recurring.”

Olsen founded Feed Washington about 12 years ago, seeking millions of dollars a month in recurring funds to feed the hungry throughout the state.

He realized this was too broad of a goal and people couldn’t relate emotionally to the campaign.

He also realized the old model for collecting food, like monthly food drives, isn’t sustainable and “after a while, people get burned out,” Olsen said.

“I’m very interested in the idea of actually solving something,” he said.

So he refocused, starting first in Seattle’s Ballard community where Feed Washington was able to create a recurring donation stream of $1,850 to fully fund the costs of feeding 72 children in Ballard schools.

About a year and a half ago, he partnered with Hopelink and Pantry Packs to bring this recurring donation model to Lake Washington schools using a 21st-century campaign.

The nonprofits released a video featuring 32 LWSD students set at Eastlake, Juanita, Lake Washington and Redmond high schools.

Campaign organizers hope to see #solvestudenthunger on thousands of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts accompanying the video through Oct. 12, the last day of the campaign.

The video “appeals to the sense of helping somebody who is pretty much just like you and living in neighborhood,” said Janice Wilson Vache, a member of the Pantry Packs volunteer leadership team and a Feed Washington board member.

By localizing it and utilizing 21st-century technology, Olsen and Wilson Vache expect the campaign to spread and gain awareness through the Eastside.

They ask for small donations, like $5 each month, in the hope that enough people will consistently donate to meet their goal and expand the food assistance program, Wilson Vache said.

This year alone, even with more reports of students who qualify for Pantry Packs weekend meals, the organization will take on three or four more schools.

“So we are expecting to provide for more students this year right away,” she said.

Pantry Packs volunteers meet once a month for packing parties in a Kirkland warehouse. The next party is Wednesday.

Volunteers can sign up online. However, packing events through the next couple of months are currently full.

“We’re always full,” she said. “We’re just amazed at people’s generosity.”

Volunteers try to fill 2,000 bags in a couple hours, she said, and these packs supply schools for one month.

Pantry Packs, which began as a grassroots movement four years ago, fills generic grocery bags with items like soup or chili, a box of macaroni and cheese, Ramen noodles, crackers, granola bars and oatmeal.

Each Friday, children in need go to the office and pick up their sack of food.

“It’s easy and a kid can put it in a backpack discreetly,” said Shay Studley-Toland, a longtime Pantry Packs volunteer and mother of three in the LWSD.

Studley Toland has lived in Sammamish with her family for about eight years.

She says the program is a “tangible” way for children to learn about hunger in the community.

“It makes a light bulb go off,” she said. “OK, that’s what hunger looks like. I get it.”

It’s also a way for those who are more fortunate to pitch in and make a difference in their community.

“I think we have a different perception of reality in Lake Washington schools,” Studley Toland said. “This very well could be supporting a family that you see at soccer practice.”

As for feeding the state, Olsen hasn’t given up on that dream.

He plans on taking this campaign model to other communities.

“We don’t have a choice,” Olsen said. “We have to take care of this.”

For more information on the social media campaign, visit feedwashington.org/lwsd.

For more information on the Pantry Packs volunteer options, visit www.pantrypacks.blogspot.com.