Donation boosts food bank effort

LEWISTON – A North Idaho food bank will be able to send 150 children home on weekends with backpacks full of food, thanks to a donation from Regence BlueShield of Idaho on Friday.

Regence presented the Idaho Food Bank in Lewiston with a check for $18,000 for the group’s Backpacks for Kids program, part of $48,000 Regence has donated to the backpack program throughout the state.

Before the donation, the program could only afford to help 40 children each weekend, said Chuck Whitman, director of North Idaho services for the food bank. The group is up to 128 and plans to reach 150 by Jan 1.

The backpacks contain six “mini-meals,” Whitman said. They have enough for two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners plus snacks.

The bags are distributed to selected children in Lewiston, Clarkston, Lapwai and Asotin.