Bridges of Hope’s ‘Operation Sandwich’ Eclipses $100,000 Fundraising Goal

Bridges of Hope’s Operation Sandwich program has reached its fundraising goal of $100,000 this year to help feed school kids on summer break in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

Thanks in large part to Zaiser’s and Nice Enough owners Katie and Biff Ulm—who matched donations all the way up to $50,000—Operation Sandwich has more means to continue supporting local children and families.

“They came to us on the last few years and they’ve wanted to support the program because they care about kids and families and really want to do local things,” said Jana Shogren, executive director of Bridges of Hope. “The community answered resoundingly. We ended up raising $60,000 from the community, and funds are still coming in.”

Operation Sandwich is a grassroots program from Bridges of Hope that works to ensure kids and families in the Brainerd Lakes Area have access to nutritious, no-cost lunches, primarily during summer months and school breaks when school meals are not available.

“I have two kids who are grown now, but I reflect back on what my budget did in the summertime, how much more food I was buying to keep up with them being home,” Shogren said. “We just recognize for so many families in our area between raising grocery prices, jobs not keeping up with costs, we have a lot of families in our area who are struggling.”

Each bag includes key lunch staples like bread, peanut butter, jelly, and canned goods. So far this summer, Operation Sandwich has distributed 1,407 bags, equivalent to 28,140 lunches.

“We can guess that we might end the summer around 56,000 lunches served,” Shogren estimated. “In the last few summers, we’ve hovered right in that [range of] 40,000 to 43,000 lunches served. Thankfully, we have awesome volunteers and we’ve more than met our fundraising goals.”

There are still six more summer distributions ahead for Operation Sandwich, with pick-up sites in Brainerd, Crosslake, Jenkins, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, and Pine River. And thanks to the generous donations made, the program can continue helping bring local kids and families plenty of meals.

“The amount of excitement that kids can get when you give them a bag of their Cuties or a bag of carrots is shocking,” added Tedi Russell, marketing and community engagement manager for Bridges of Hope. “I think it just speaks to—our families are so appreciative to what they’re receiving in the bags. We really are thankful for our donors to able to provide such great options and varieties for our families.” 

Registration for Operation Sandwich’s weekly lunch pick-up opens Fridays at 10:00 a.m. and closes the following Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. More details on the program can be found at the Bridges of Hope website.