Meg Roussos / The BulletinVolunteer Kay Rozendal, of Redmond, fills bags with food for Redmond nonprofit Jericho Road, which delivers it to schools for kids dependent on the school lunch program, so they have enough to eat on the weekends.

REDMOND — For many decades, the National School Lunch Program filled a need: providing schoolchildren with a nutritional meal in the middle of the school day, many of whom would otherwise not be eating lunch — or at least not a good one.

It’s been only in recent years that people began talking about a gap in the system: What happens when the school week is over? What are the children eating?

“For us, the idea originated with one of our volunteers, Mary Kimmel, who is a retired teacher,” said Jericho Road volunteer Don Senecal. “She realized there was a need to be addressed.”

Backpack programs — supplying children with food to take home — aren’t new, but the idea was new to Redmond when Jericho Road decided to take it in 2011. “We started with one elementary and five backpacks, and it mushroomed from there,” Senecal said.

A Redmond-based nonprofit formed nine years ago, Jericho Road also offers a free hot meal program, transitional housing, supplementary weekend food bags for adults and families, and emergency supplies and services.

The weekend backpack program has expanded to all Redmond schools, providing 1,823 packs of food to schoolchildren during 2013-14. Jericho Road volunteers logged nearly 900 hours on the program, and in 2012 the Oregon Governor Awards named Jericho Road its Outstanding Volunteer Organization.

The program is simple: Nonperishable food — items such as peanut butter, fruit packs, granola bars, tuna and crackers — is sorted and placed in individual packs or bags for children identified by school staff or Family Access Network advocates as particularly in need. Packs are distributed on Fridays for children to take home. After the weekend, kids bring the packs back to school, and Jericho volunteers pick them up, clean them out and refill them for distribution back to the schools.

Jericho’s partners in the program include FAN, which facilitates the pack distribution in schools, and NeighborImpact, which provides space for the program to store food as well as some food donations.

Jennifer Jackson is a FAN advocate at Terrebonne Elementary School, but since the backpack program began she’s also joined the Jericho board.

“Jericho is an amazing organization, so easy to work with. They give us a number of backpacks they can supply each school, but they are also flexible and try so hard to meet all of our needs,” Jackson said.

Finding the families in the most distress is not too hard, Jackson said. When parents come to her for other needs — school supplies, referrals for medical care or clothing — she inquires about other potential needs. If the parents tell her they are short on food in the home, Jackson tells them about the backpack program.

“There are different levels of need within the families who qualify for the lunch program,” she said. For example, Jackson said, parents might not be able to get to local food banks, because they work and the distribution hours aren’t compatible.

Funding for the program, which serves a city with an average of 60 percent of children receiving free or reduced lunches, comes from a variety of sources. The largest are 14 area churches and grants from foundations and businesses.

Senecal said the program’s budget last year was nearly $14,000.

Last year, Ridgeview High School created an Empty Bowls fundraiser for Jericho Road, offering handmade ceramic bowls created by students and hot soup by its culinary students. Senecal said he is hoping that the fundraiser grows to become one of the biggest sources of funding for the backpack program.

Meanwhile, Jericho has begun an Adopt-a-Student program, asking individuals or organizations to sponsor a month of supplementary food for one student for $28.

“There hasn’t been a significant response to the request for sponsorships, but that’s mostly because we haven’t shared the information much,” Senecal said. “We need to get the word out.

Demand for the packs among the schools varies, depending on need as communicated by the individual schools. Brown Education Center, which houses many of the district programs for high-needs students, has the most requests, according to Senecal. After that, Lynch and Sage elementary schools top the list, along with Obsidian Middle School, all three schools in southwest Redmond.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, lpugmire@bendbulletin.com