That’s a Wrap for Burrito Friday!

Burrito Friday holds a special meaning for many folks in our community. For some, Burrito Friday is an opportunity to give back, for our youth, it’s been a time to connect with their peers and share resources. Burrito Friday began many years ago the same way that most things related to 15th Night begin – with a recommendation from our young folks. Members of our Youth Action Council let us know that many youth were hungry over the weekends because no youth services were open and the places open for youth on Fridays didn’t serve food in the evenings. So, almost every single Friday for the past 6 years, in partnership with an amazing group of community volunteers, our Youth Action Council has been posting up and feeding youth in Eugene in an attempt to fill that gap.

“Burrito Friday became so much more than I think any of us ever expected. We were able to find a place for us to do this event, allowing youth a safe space to hang out and a consistent meal.” – Allistair, YAC member since 2018

Since then, Burrito Friday has moved between the Eugene Park Blocks, Looking Glass New Roads, Eugene Public Library, Youth Era, the Covid pop-up shelter, and we even went mobile during the pandemic.

A lot has changed in our community since Burrito Friday started back in 2017. We are so happy to see that many youth services have expanded their capacity and that options for safe spaces for youth in our community have grown. These days, youth in Eugene have more than one place they can go to get a hot meal on Fridays, and even resources available to them on the weekends (shout out to Looking Glass New Roads for a major expansion of service hours!).

“Burrito Friday has been a tremendous help for me and many others. My partner and I were homeless and would come every Friday to get food as we rarely had anything else. It also led me and my partner to joining the 15th Night Youth Action Council.” – Mikey, YAC member since 2023

With that being said, our Youth Action Council has decided that the resource gap we set out to fill with Burrito Friday back in 2017 is no longer a gap, and it’s bittersweet to share the news that December 2023 will be our last month serving youth in Eugene at Burrito Friday.

Burrito Friday was a big dream and our amazing community of supporters helped us to make it a reality. We estimate over the course of the past 6 years that we have helped to serve more than 10,000 meals to youth in our community! We hope you will take a moment to grasp the magnitude of that number and the impact that you have had on the lives of these youth.

And while Burrito Friday is ending, we are setting the stage to fill resource gaps just across the river. Last year, Springfield School District reported that 440 students experienced homelessness, 138 of whom were unaccompanied. Despite these numbers, there are currently no service providers offering meals to our young people in Springfield.

If you would like to support 15th Night as we transition Burrito Friday to Springfield on Thursdays, please let us know! There are lots of mouths to feed and we would love for you to get involved. If you have any questions please reach out to info@15thnight.org.