Formed in 2023, the community partnership known as the Tri-Village Packers has been providing breakfast and lunch items, healthy snacks and grocery gift cards to children in the Upper Arlington and Grandview school districts who are experiencing food insecurity over the Thanksgiving and Spring Break holidays.

This totally confidential program helps bridge the gap for families whose children may rely on free school lunches during the school year. And because the Packers is a totally volunteer-based organization, 100% of the funds raised are used to purchase food items and grocery gift cards.

The program has been averaging 100-120 participants during past Thanksgiving and Spring Break programs, which represents approximately one third the number of students currently receiving free school lunches. With this statistic in mind, for 2025 the Packers are hoping to reach more students to make sure no one goes hungry over the two holiday breaks.

This year’s Spring Break program will provide food items for a total of nine days, almost double what’s required over Thanksgiving. Combined with the Packers’ goals for continuing to increase the number of children participating in the program, support from the community will be important in the coming weeks and to sustain the Tri-Village Packers on an ongoing basis.

Ways to Donate:

• Visit the uacommunityfoundation.com/donate/ page on the Foundation’s website, and select the Tri-Village Packers Fund from the drop-down menu.
• Send checks to: Upper Arlington Community Foundation, 3600 Tremont Road, Upper Arlington, OH 43221. Be sure to write “Tri-Village Packers” in the memo line.

Any funds raised beyond the group’s needs for the Spring Break program will be housed in the Tri-Village Packers Fund with the Upper Arlington Community Foundation to support the 2025 Thanksgiving Program and future projects focused on food insecurity in our community.

The Tri-Village Packers partnership is spearheaded by the Tri-Village Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club of Northwest Columbus, the Tri-Village Rotary Club, the Upper Arlington Rotary Club, the Upper Arlington Community Foundation, the City of Upper Arlington, Upper Arlington Schools, the City of Grandview Heights, Grandview Heights Schools the Village of Marble Cliff, UNITS, Three Creeks Capital Management, and Wright Patt Credit Union.

Additional service groups are invited to join our efforts – just send an email to: [email protected].

Visit the Tri-Village Packers website for more on the efforts of this worthwhile initiative.