Janae McMaster of The Giving Plate pulls food items out of storage compartments inside the organization's new mobile food pantry for children on Aug. 8.

Darlene and Dominic Kieffaber of La Pine are both disabled and rely on Social Security to pay the bills and put food on the table. But with rising inflation, grocery prices are a real burden on the couple, who have adopted their 6-year-old granddaughter.

But now they can turn to a new mobile food pantry program, run by The Giving Plate, that is specifically tailored to parents of young children who are struggling to keep up with high grocery bills.

The program, called the Kid’s Korner Mobile Pantry, is housed in a brightly decorated bus that began traveling to Redmond, La Pine, Prineville and Sunriver earlier this summer to help parents like the Kieffabers, by providing free snacks for the little ones. The program is unique in that it is designed to help families in areas outside of Bend, where the need is especially high, in addition to empowering children to make their own choices and also learn about earning and saving money.

Darlene Kieffaber, 48, said her granddaughter — who really loves snacks, as most kids do — enjoyed shopping at the mobile pantry in La Pine on the first day of the program, which has a unique spin on the pantry experience for kids. In addition to offering a diverse array of snacks it also gives kids the chance to earn toys and other treats.

“That is what I like about this program, is that it does give you that little bit of education,” Darlene Kieffaber said.

The program gives children the opportunity to earn credits that the program calls Kid’s Korner cash. At the mobile pantry, they are awarded Kid’s cash by reciting a poem to pantry staff or listing five things they are grateful for. The credits can be saved and then redeemed for candy or toys, giving them the chance to learn about the value of money.

“Kids don’t understand the value of money, and how much things cost. And that is the other thing I do like about this program is that it will hopefully teach the kids to save or how to work towards a bigger item,” Darlene Kieffaber said, as she and her granddaughter put together a new Lego set purchased with kids cash.

Ranae Staley, the director of The Giving Plate, said the program is already a success and the word is starting to get out. She hopes more people will take advantage of the nonprofit’s new concept.

“I went out on our very first trip, which was La Pine, and we had around 10 kids that first week in La Pine. We just went to La Pine again, and had around 10 again, and only a few were returning kids. La Pine is probably our strongest community,” Staley said.

The mobile food pantry — which is a moving version of the Kid’s Korner at The Giving Plate’s main location at 1245 SE Third St. in Bend — empowers children and families by allowing them to choose their own items.

“There’s something really different when you don’t just put food into people’s hands, but you empower them with choice, not only for the families we are serving but for the kids,” Staley said.

Erica Kite, 35, of Sunriver is a mother of 7-year-old twins and a 4-year-old. Both she and her husband are currently working, but keeping food in her children’s lunchboxes takes a huge bite out of the family budget.

“Basically, groceries are really expensive right now, more than ever. So, the increase there sent us to the Giving Plate to get the food and offset some of the expenses. And the kids eat snacks all the time, so that pantry is perfect,” Kite said.

Kite said her family started going to the Giving Plate in Bend in the last couple of months to help with grocery costs. Then in July she stumbled upon the mobile pantry and decided to take a look. She said she loved how interactive and educational the pantry experience was for her kids.

“That was my favorite part was seeing them do that and hopefully they will learn a little bit about how they spend their money. I was kind of hoping they would have saved it, but they immediately bought the candy,” Kite said laughing.

The mobile Kid’s Korner pantry is supported by PacificSource Health Plans, which pledged one year of support for the new program, providing The Giving Plate with $150,000, said Kristen Tobias, of PacificSource.

Tobias said PacficSource was impressed with the program, which she said fills a specific need in underserved communities.

“As a local health plan, we are always looking for opportunities where we can support the local community and those in need. And we know that rural communities, especially children living in rural communities, struggle with food insecurity at higher rates than children living in larger communities,” Tobias said. “It’s not just food insecurity or even rural communities. It is really just trying to support those in our local community that are boots on the ground and working with people that are trying to make their way.”