Pack and Pantry aims to support family food access over the summer
Over the years, the Pack and Pantry program has had an assortment of names. It has been known as the Backpack Program, and Snacks and Pack. Heading into this summer however, and now under the management of Vital North Foundation, the family food access program has both a new name and an expanded goal.
Cook County families with children who attend either Sawtooth Elementary or Great Expectations School (GES) may already be familiar with the school year version of the program. Students from families who identify as in need of food assistance are given a bag of shelf-stable food and a voucher for fresh produce, left either in their backpack or locker. The goal has been to keep the distribution discreet to avoid children facing stigma that might exist around experiencing food insecurity.
Vital North Foundation Executive Director Anna Cariad-Barret told WTIP that her organization has undergone its own name change recently. They were previously known as the North Shore Healthcare Foundation. The name change was motivated by an effort to decrease confusion with North Shore Health, the hospital in Cook County, but also to emphasize the group’s mission. She said they chose Vital North “to really zero in on our mission, which is about building vital northern communities and really connecting with our goal, which is fostering the health and well-being of our community.”
Cariad-Barret said that when Vital North took on the program, which was originally housed and managed by the Cook County Community Center, they also looked for ways to grow the services that were offered. As Pack and Pantry, she said that they are not only looking to maintain the current food distribution through Sawtooth Elementary and GES, but reach students at the other schools in the county, and empower young people by teaching life skills.
In addition to food distribution through the schools, Pack and Pantry has a summer program open to all families in the county, regardless of whether their children attend a participating school. She said that with the high cost of living, Pack and Pantry is looking to get more food into homes across the county. “Families are really feeling that pinch,” she said. “One of the things we try to do with the Pack and Pantry program is make it really easy to access, simple to sign up, and more families qualify than would expect.”
To sign up, families self-identify as needing support, but are not asked for proof of income. Participating families will receive monthly grocery gift cards. Cariad-Barret said the program has increased the support families get to $200 per month.
Over summer, the gift cards will be mailed to families. Without the infrastructure of lockers for storage and bus routes for transportation, Cariad-Barret said mailing the cards both streamlines the process and offers families more choices. “It’s just to kind of simplify it, and kids might be in lots of different places, and families can kind of make their own choices about, you know, how and where to spend those dollars.”
To supplement the food access program, Cariad-Barret said that Vital North is also looking to expand Pack and Pantry to offer more nutrition education and life skills support. Vital North has also worked on programs centered on restorative justice and truancy. She said that they have begun working with families who are engaged with one of those programs to talk about health and food education. She added that a goal for Pack and Pantry would be to expand this type of engagement with families.
Those families looking to participate in Pack and Pantry this summer can contact Vital North Program Manager Anne Graybeal at pm@vitalnorth.org.
WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Vital North Foundation Executive Director Anna Cariad-Barret about Pack and Pantry. Audio of that interview is below.
Kirsten Wisniewski May 20, 2026
