Hunger Intervention Program: Programs

Programs

Healthy HIP Packs Program

Overview

One in four Washington children live in households where families experience hunger. The Healthy HIP Packs Program, a weekend food backpack program, provides an important food resource for the children in these families when school meals are not available.

HIP Packs provide nutritious and kid-friendly foods, enough for six meals and two snacks per child. When choosing foods to include in the pack, HIP creates complete meals and emphasizes whole grains, milk, high quality proteins, fresh fruits, and products with no added sugars. The packs are also a great way to share information with families on free community events, nutrition tips, and local resources.

HIP collaborates with Seattle schools and community partners to make the HIP Pack Program possible. School staff works with parents to identify children receiving free or reduced priced meals whom are at risk of hunger over the weekend. In the 2013–2014 school year, more than 23,000 HIP Packs provided vital weekend food help for Seattle children. Monthly packing parties offer fun opportunities for the community to come together to assemble HIP Packs. Packing parties are also a great time for parents and children to volunteer together. HIP volunteers then deliver the HIP Packs to the school each week, where they are discretely placed into student backpacks to be taken home.

“This food has helped my family a lot. We are sometimes without food on the weekend.” —Healthy HIP Packs parent

For more information on how you can contribute to the Healthy HIP Pack Program, visit our Ways to Give page. To learn how to bring the Healthy HIP Packs program to your school, contact Kate at our email address.

Benefits

Students are assured access to nutritious foods.
Packs are also a vehicle for sharing non-food resources.

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Food Bank
Cooking Demonstrations

Overview

When North Helpline Food Bank reported they were composting donated produce because clients did not know how to cook it, HIP answered with cooking demonstrations!

Each week, HIP’s team of volunteers and staff show how to prepare easy and nutritious dishes with the foods available that week at the food bank. Recipes highlight items that are unfamiliar to clients or use common ingredients in new ways. Clients can taste the prepared dishes and take a recipe card home along with the highlighted ingredients.

Visit our blog—HIP Stockpot—to try out our latest recipes.

Benefits

Clients learn how to cook unfamiliar foods.
Program focuses on healthy cooking.

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Senior Community Meal

Overview

HIP’s Senior Community Meal is offered in partnership with Senior Services and the Lake City Community Center. Launched in November 2013, the meal provides a weekly low-cost, nutritious and delicious meal for seniors 60 and over. It is also an opportunity to build community and to learn new things. The lunch is a part of Senior Mondays, which offers a variety of programming every Monday morning through the lunch. Senior Monday activities include senior fitness programs, art classes, conversation cafés, community presenters, book clubs and more.

This meal is open to the community every Monday from 12–1pm at Lake City Community Center (12531 28th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125). Suggested donation is $3 for seniors 60 and over and $6 for anyone under 60.

Visit the Lake City Community Center's website to see this month's menu and activities.

Benefits

Seniors who have difficulty cooking for themselves can eat nutritiously.
Encourages seniors to socialize and meet new friends.
Opportunities for seniors to participate in fitness, social and creative activities.

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Summer Meals for Kids

Overview

Each summer, one in four kids and teens in Washington, who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year, look forward to three months without meal support. HIP's Summer Meals for Kids provides freshly made, nutritious lunches from the HIP kitchen at kid-friendly locations around the north Seattle community. HIP partners with other community organizations to offer activities at meal sites to encourage participation all summer long.

Benefits

With access to a daily meal, families can stretch their food budgets.
Kids can also engage in summer reading, games and crafts.

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Afterschool Meals

Overview

HIP’s afterschool meal program partners with existing afterschool programming to offer a healthy snack to kids. Our first afterschool meal program, begun in 2014, is in partnership with the Lake City Library’s Homework Help program. Volunteer tutors provide individualized tutoring and HIP provides the brain food to keep them focused.