This post is sponsored by The Motherhood and ConAgra Foods.
Thinking of children going hungry makes my heart ache. I’m always interested in learning ways to solve this problem. That’s why I want to spread awareness about how we can help these children have a hunger-free summer.
As part of this program Dave and I recently had the chance to visit the Salvation Army Temple Corps for a site visit. This facility is incredible. Just some of the programs and features they offer include:
- Day camps for kids with math and reading programs
- Community Head Start & day care
- Hot meal program
- Food pantry
- A computer lab with free internet & computer classes open to the public & all ages
- Job search and resume writing assistance
- Full size gym with kids activities in the evening
- Weight room
- Community center with recreation and educational activities
- Women’s groups
- Men’s groups
- Shelter & transitional assistance
- Energy assistance
- Housing
- …and more.
While there we had the chance to help serve the day camp children a hot lunch. It was wonderful seeing them smile and having fun. They seemed to be enjoying themselves but at the same time Dave and I later discussed how respectful they were of the rules, how polite they were, and how not one of them complained about what was being served.
That’s right. We served an entire cafeteria full of children of all different ages a hot lunch consisting of noodles, meatballs with sauce, green & yellow beans, and not one complained.
There was a question or two about what the yellow beans tasted like but they all took the food, said thank you, and sat down to eat.
We did like that there is a “Share Box” available. It’s a Styrofoam cooler where if the children don’t like something from their meal they can place it in the box and a child who is still hungry can then have it. It’s a wonderful concept that helps prevent the wasting of food. Even though it seemed most of the children cleaned their plates, it was good to know that this was an option for them.
While there we also met with representatives of the Cleveland Food Bank who shared with us some interesting facts.
- The Cleveland Food Bank served 35 million meals last year to 700 programs in 6 counties
- There are staff members with walk-in hours available at the Cleveland Food Bank to help you sign up for food stamps
- There is also the Ohio Benefit Bank which can help determine whether you are eligible for food stamps
- They have a weekend program called Backpack For Kids where they provide bags of food to agencies who will put them in backpacks for kids to make sure they get their weekend meals
There was so much to learn about all the Salvation Army Temple Corps facility has to offer as well as the Cleveland Food Bank. We also had the chance to talk with representatives of Feeding America and ConAgra Foods. It is wonderful to know that these programs are out there to help those in need and that they are doing what they can to make it easy to get help.
Did you know that during the school year 21.5 million kids rely on free or reduced-price meals during the school year? Or that when school is out only 2.3 million children participate in Summer Food Service Program?
I was impressed to learn that this summer 29 food banks in 20 states will use Hunger-Free Summer grants to overcome barriers. These grants range in value from $20,000 -$50,000.
It’s wonderful that these programs are out there to help these children and I’m excited that we can help too just by watching the Hunger-Free Summer video. You can visit the Child Hunger Ends Here site to view the video or click play above. For every view on the Child Hunger Ends Here site or here in this blog post, one meal will be donated.
It’s a simple way to work towards an end to child hunger..
