Brenna Sloan, Chris Sloan and Tom Stevenson: Keeping region’s children fed as families face increasing need

For Emily, a third-grader in Spokane, weekends are a challenge. Like 1 in 6 children in our community, Emily faces food insecurity – meaning she does not have enough to eat and does not know where her next meal will come from.

“My stomach hurts,” she said. “My head starts hurting really bad, and it’s hard for me to do my schoolwork.”

It is for students like Emily that, in 2012, Bite2Go and its partners began providing weekend and holiday meals to children who regularly do not have enough to eat at home. Since then, we have increased the number of students served from 100 in Spokane to more than 12,000 students every week across Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Thanks to more than 170 generous partners – including churches, businesses and family groups – who have adopted schools, we’ve been able to meet the growing demand for food in our regional communities. Second Harvest, our lead partner, purchases the food at wholesale cost, adds no overhead, and organizes volunteers to pack it into bags for the kids. Teachers identify students who may be going hungry over the weekend, and each week, our partners fund and deliver Bite2Go meals to their adopted schools. Teachers discreetly place Bite2Go packets into students’ backpacks while the children are at recess on Friday, ensuring they have food to take home for the weekend.

Bite2Go not only makes a child’s life easier but is also linked to improved academic outcomes. A recent study in Illinois found that Friday attendance increased in schools offering weekend food programs, suggesting that students are more engaged and motivated to attend. In addition, a study from North Carolina found that schools implementing weekend backpack food programs saw measurable improvements in test scores – especially in reading – among economically disadvantaged students.

Unfortunately, the most food-insecure families in our region are now facing new pressures that could dramatically increase the need for Bite2Go.

Household budgets are being stretched thin by the rising costs of food, utilities and other basic needs – worsening food insecurity for parents and children.

We are also concerned about the federal budget cuts that could deepen the crisis. According to the state of Washington, reductions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could cause 130,000 Washingtonians to lose access to food, with another 1 million experiencing reduced benefits. These cuts would likely increase the number of food-insecure children in our region.

In addition, between 200,000 and 320,000 Washington residents could lose Medicaid health coverage due to $3–$5 billion in expected cuts to the state’s program, according to the Washington State Health Care Authority – further straining already tight household budgets.

We anticipate these combined challenges will significantly increase the need for Bite2Go in 2026. Unfortunately, many of our partners may not be able to expand their support to meet this growing demand.

To prepare for a potential surge in need, we have made the difficult decision to ask our education partners to make sure to prioritize Bite2Go meals for the most food-insecure students. This approach gives us time to grow our funding base so we can expand services as needs continue to rise.

Thanks to our incredible partners – and the ongoing generosity of local citizens – we are already working hard to secure more resources to feed more children. Feeding an elementary student for the entire school year costs just $180 – that’s only $15 a month. While many of our partner organizations fully fund the students, others are sponsored by a combination of the business or church, employees, congregants and local community members.

Regardless of the challenges ahead, Bite2Go remains deeply committed to helping students like Emily – and every child who needs our support.

For more information or to get involved, please visit Bite2Go.org.

Brenna Sloan lives in the Mead area, is on the At The Core Bite2Go Board of Directors and serves as the secretary treasurer. Chris Sloan lives in the Mead area, is on the At The Core Bite2Go board of directors and was a youth pastor for his church where he recognized the need for weekend food for food insecure students. Tom Stevenson lives in Spokane, is a co-founder of Bite2Go, is the volunteer President of At The Core-Bite2Go, was the managing partner for Moss Adams CPA’s for 20 years and is a retired, long-time business leader in Spokane. The three are the co-founders of Bite2Go.