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    • About

    History

    JJ Packs is a public not-for-profit effort to assist with the approximately 68 hours of hunger that some UP school children experience between the free lunch they receive at school on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive at school on Monday morning. JJ Packs provides a nourishing pack of healthy food to approximately 230 MAPS students every Friday, to help them through the weekend.

    The program was founded in November 2014 by two MAPS parents and neighbors, Habby Vigfusdottir and Kevin Carr. The name ‘JJ Packs’ was inspired by an act of kindness from Habby’s oldest son, Jakob Johannsson. JJ Packs found its home at Graveraet Elementary School with its guardian, Principal Dr. Sarah Kemppainen. Every Friday morning the packs are assembled at Graveraet, with the help of volunteers, and then transported to each school for distribution.

    JJ Packs is entirely volunteer-based and donations go directly to feeding at-risk children.

    Our Packs

    Nutrition is the backbone of our program. Every week we pack fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy canned goods, low or no sugar cereals, and oatmeal. We try to avoid artificial ingredients. We are looking to provide a sufficient amount of calories through wholesome and nutritious food that kids will eat. Volunteers bring the food that makes up the packs to Graveraet School on Friday mornings, where 10-15 volunteers wash and repackage produce, bag rolls, scoop oatmeal, and cereal in single serving bags, and organize a food assembly line. After the prep work, volunteers assemble approximately 250 JJ packs. This whole process takes approximately 1.5 hours. Volunteers then transport the food packs to each MAPS school, making sure that each one is placed discreetly in students’ backpacks.

    Pack Costs *

    $4 = Cost of one JJ Pack
    $152 = Feed one student on weekends for the entire school year
    $1000 = Feed every child in our program for one weekend

    *Actual cost may vary based on food availability and the number of student participants. 100% of all money donated will be used by JJ Packs to feed students in need.