Milwaukie Elementary School's Backpack Buddies program began November 2, 2007. The program extended the program to include El Puente Elementary in the fall of 2008.  Two local churches Milwaukie Lutheran and King of Kings Lutheran Church decided that they wanted to make a commitment to end hunger in their own backyards.  Crossroads Church joined in the effort in December 2008. 

Each church asked their members to donate food or make a monetary commitment to the program. Once a month volunteers gather to bag up weekend meals for each child on the program. Once a week tubs of the bagged meals are delivered to the school. On Fridays our staff distributes the bags to each classroom while the children are at lunch, and the child’s teacher slips the bags into the child’s backpack to eat over the weekend.

Our program currently serves 80 children per week. Our goal is to serve every hungry child at Milwaukie and El Puente Elementary Schools.