Vital North seeks community support for Pack & Pantry food program
The Vital North Foundation is incubating a program designed to address food insecurity among students outside of school-provided breakfasts and lunches. Pack & Pantry provides students with food for weekends, after school and during school breaks. Following an expanded summer program, Vital North is seeking community support to continue the effort.
The program provides shelf-stable foods and meals, such as shelf-stable milk and spaghetti, including options that older children can prepare themselves. Food is sent home weekly and discreetly placed in students’ lockers or backpacks.
Unlike SNAP and other government benefits, Pack & Pantry does not require families to register through the government or meet a series of eligibility requirements beyond having children in the home. Families in need can receive assistance by contacting pm@vitalnorth.org.
In addition to shelf-stable food, the program provides a produce voucher with each shipment. Vital North hopes to add a voucher for protein in the future. The grocery vouchers are funded by the Grand Marais/Cook County Food Shelf.
“It’s really supplemental support for families and kids in our county,” Vital North Executive Director Anna Cariad-Barret told WTIP. “It’s a consistent resource that we try to do in a confidential, supportive, and empowering way.”
The discreet nature of the program is intended to reduce the stigma families may experience when asking for help and prevent students from feeling different because they need assistance. That goal is important to Cariad-Barrett, who has firsthand experience with those feelings.
“I was one of those kids growing up that felt really different because I was like, I was on food stamps, I had a different colored lunch ticket. I know what that feels like in a school system, in a community,” Cariad-Barrett said.
This summer, Vital North expanded the Pack & Pantry program across Cook County, mailing gift cards to help families purchase groceries at the store of their choice. In 2025, the program served 22 children. In 2026, 63 families received assistance through the expanded summer program, reaching a total of 156 children.
“That translates into a big dollar amount, so we are spending over $42,000 just for the summer program,” Cariad-Barrett told WTIP. “It’s coming from really generous funding from Empty Bowls, for example, who committed over $20,000 to help with the summer program. It’s coming from our foundation, and it’s also coming from monies that have been held in stewardship by Cook County.”
The school-year program currently partners with ISD 166 and Great Expectations School, but Vital North hopes to establish future partnerships with Birch Grove Community School in Tofte and Oshki Ogimaag Community School in Grand Portage.
Adding protein vouchers and expanding the program to additional schools would require additional funding. Cariad-Barrett said Vital North is seeking donations to support those goals.
“We really need our community to help fund this program and to keep things moving forward and to help with that protein voucher and future donations,” Cariad-Barrett told WTIP. “That’s always been the backbone of what Pack and Pantry has been able to do: neighbors helping to feed kids who, you know, just need extra support for food.”
Those interested in supporting the Vital North Foundation can donate through the organization’s website.
WTIP spoke with Cariad-Barrett about Pack & Pantry and the role the program plays amid affordability challenges in Cook County. Audio of the interview can be found below.
Josh Hinke August 13, 2026
