Every Thursday at Naranca Elementary in El Cajon, something reliable happens: 33 students go home with a bag of food. For kids at this Title I school, where nearly 1,000 students are enrolled and food insecurity is a daily reality, that consistency means everything.
“It brings consistency to their lives,” says Lisa Peña, school counselor at Naranca Elementary. “Parents always ask, ‘Are we getting it this week?’ They look forward to it.”
Naranca is in its second year with the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank’s Food 4 Kids Backpack Program, having grown from 25 students to 33, with three more on a waitlist. The school prioritizes students experiencing housing instability, those in foster care or refugee families, and new students facing known challenges at home. But as Lisa is quick to point out, the impact doesn’t stop at the student receiving the food package.
“We give one bag per student, but it’s really impacting more than just that one student,” she says. “It’s impacting the entire family.”
Lisa describes the program as filling a gap that’s hard to overstate. According to the San Diego Hunger Coalition, the rate of nutrition insecurity in ZIP code 92021 where Naranca is located is 42% — significantly higher than San Diego County’s average of 25%. Without a reliable source of nutrition on weekends, students return to school Monday morning at a disadvantage before the school day has even begun. “Food is a basic necessity,” she says. “If you don’t have it, you can’t thrive.”
Makena Rutan, School-Based Programs Coordinator, holds the 2025–26 Community Partner of the Year certificate awarded to the San Diego Food Bank by Naranca Elementary School.
Each year, Naranca staff recommend and vote on a Community Partner of the Year. This year, they chose the San Diego Food Bank, a testament to how deeply the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program has woven itself into the fabric of the school. Lisa says she genuinely can’t say enough positive things about it. “All the families who receive the food are just so thankful and so appreciative.”
That gratitude reflects a program that is quietly transformative in scope. Across San Diego County, the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program currently serves up to 3,700 elementary students each week at 99 Title I schools. Participating students receive a discreetly packed bag of nutritious food, including items like yogurt, cereal, and shelf-stable staples, to carry them through the weekend when free school meals are unavailable.
For Lisa and her colleagues at Naranca, showing up every week for kids who are counting on it is at the heart of the work. And thanks to the support of donors across San Diego, the Food Bank is able to do exactly that.
Donate to the Food 4 Kids Backpack Program today. Through the end of April, your support goes twice as far for students facing hunger, thanks to a $100,000 match from Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan.