2020/2021 School Year Announcement:

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Unfortunately, COVID-19 had brought unseen barriers to the implementation of the 20/21 School year Snack Pack Program. With barriers to administration,  implementation, financing and feet on the ground support of this program the South Coast Food Share will not be providing snack packs this year. 

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We will be working with community partners and members to reevaluate how to best serve hungry youth through a community based project. Our goal is to unite the community in a collaborative project that will expand, strengthen and better serve youth in our community. 

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If you are interested in participating in this conversation please reach out to us at southcoastfoodshare@orcca.us

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I HISTORY I 

 

Since 2007, with the support of the Coos Bay Elks BPOE, Mr. MHS and local foundation grants, South Coast Food Share has been serving youth throughout Coos Curry and Western Douglas Counties. Snack packs work to alleviate hunger over the weekend and during holiday breaks when free and reduced lunches are not available.

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In the first year, 750 children were served through the snack pack program. Due to a decrease in available funding, numbers of children served have declined over the years. In 2014/15 snack pack served 530 youth and additional decline in 2015/2016 serving only 435 youth. Though we were able to increase to 536 youth served in 2016/17.

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This past year has also brought 3 youth Nutrition programs to our area. The Powers School Food Cupboard, which focuses on providing daily food access to youth in the Powers school district; The Child Welfare Food Cupboard at DHS, which is a collaborate effort between SCFS, CASA and DHS to provide nutrition to youth who are awaiting placement, and for visits with relatives at DHS/Child Welfare office. This program aims to address immediate hunger, and help promote comfort and bonding with parents and relatives; Bulldog Youth Pantry, a collaborative effort between SCFS and North Bend High Schools Youth Transition Program, aims to help families in the local school community access food as needed in a warm, welcoming environment. 

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I BARRIERS I

 

We face some barriers in our efforts including; allergen restrictions which almost eliminate our ability to utilize nut and soy proteins, as well as substantial increased procurement costs for healthier snack sized items. Additionally, local foundation grants become more competitive with increases in non-profits in our communities. These increases in cost and decreases in foundation dollars make it difficult to increase our services while also improving the nutritional value of our snack items. This is why it is time to create partnerships that foster long-term, sustainable commitments to area youth and families. Other Barriers for Youth include transportation both to/and from historically structured food pantries. 

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I FUTURE I 

 

Our goal is to ensure as many hungry youth as possible have access to nutritious food. As we move forward we are going to be continuing to work with local school districts other youth based programs to establish sustainable youth food programs that are available to youth in places they frequent, feel safe and generally have regular transportation to and from.