Backpack Program peanut butter drive fuels Baker County student meals

Peanut butter is the unit of measure in Baker City’s latest push against weekend hunger, and every 16-ounce jar counts. The third annual drive for the Baker City Backpack Program opened May 6 as a team competition, with monetary donations accepted at the rate of $5 for one jar and a final collection deadline of May 21 at 4 p.m.

The stakes are bigger than a contest tally. The Baker City Backpack Program, established in 2010 and started during the 2010-2011 school year through First Presbyterian Church, provides bags of non-perishable food to students in the Baker 5J School District who are at risk and in need. The all-volunteer program serves about 200 children a week during the school year, and volunteers delivered food bags to 274 students before the December 2025 holiday break. In Baker County, where childhood food insecurity has been reported at 20.3 percent, compared with Oregon’s 13.2 percent, the weekend gap between school meals can be the difference between a child having enough food at home and going hungry.

That is why peanut butter matters so much. It is shelf-stable, calorie-dense and easy to portion, making it one of the most useful staples for backpacks that have to stretch through weekends and other times when school meals are not available. Organizers shortened this year’s format from a bracket-style, three-week competition to a two-week collection period, with teams required to register by May 7 and a midway check-in set for May 14.

Donations can be dropped off at Baker High School’s front office, the Grove Team real estate office, or First Presbyterian Church by appointment. The practical deadline structure gives Baker County residents a narrow window to add to a drive that has already shown it can move quickly. A similar peanut butter contest in May 2024 collected 1,315 jars, including more than 334 from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, and that benchmark now hangs over the new effort. If the drive falls short, the program will have less of its most expensive item to pack into weekend bags for local students who rely on school meals during the week.