Help Fight Child Hunger with Project Sunlight Share A Meal Program
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As we’re nearing Halloween & the start of all the different holidays this fall/winter, we often think of it as a time of food abundance & delicious meals shared with family & friends. But for many families, the opposite is true – this is a time when they are struggling to just put food on the table each day. Childhood hunger is a very real issue facing our country, with 16 million children struggling with hunger in America. That is the population of Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia & Chicago combined, which is a staggering statistic.
Families are impacted in all walks of life – from rural, urban & suburban areas of the country as the economic downturn in recent years affected so many families & you may not even realize your own neighbors or children’s school friends are impacted.
Sia & I are excited to partner together with Unilever’s Project Sunlight to spread awareness about child hunger, as well as get our families involved in finding new ways to do our part to fight childhood hunger. Project Sunlight is an initiative focused on encouraging people to create a brighter future for children by taking small steps to live sustainably, use less & share more with others. This fall, they are focused specifically on child hunger & ways to encourage others to share a meal with those around you.
Ways You Can Participate in Sharing A Meal to End Childhood Hunger:
Here are some ways that you can participate and Share A Meal, whether it be in your group of family or friends, your community or supporting organizations providing meals for others.
Share A Meal Potluck – Host neighboring families for a dinner and invite a family in need to join to not only provide a meal for their family but create more of a sense of community & an opportunity to get to know each other better so you can find out how better to help.
Get Involved in your Community by Sharing a Meal -Many organizations need families to provide meals on a daily basis. Food banks often need home-cooked meals for the daily meals they provide for families, as well as youth centers & more. For example, in my town of Puyallup, the St Francis House hosts a daily meal for those in need & they can always use volunteers to provide meals or volunteer at the Armory during the mealtime to serve people. If you call a local food bank to let them know you’d like to make a meal, I would think they’d be able find an opportunity for you. {Find a list of local Northwest food banks to help you in your search.}
Local Food Drives – Look for a participating food drive happening around your area & look for ways you can give to the food drive – use coupons to save even more & even find freebies on toiletry items, food items & more when you combine coupons with sales.
Volunteer your Time at a Food Bank or Organization – Project Sunlight has a great list of organizations who are all helping to fight childhood hunger & they desperately need volunteers. It could be as little as an hour of your time one time or volunteering on a regular basis. Not only will you be helping others, but it will bless you as well, the time you spend giving to those in need.
Host a Virtual Food Drive – If you see a need in your community, but don’t have time to do a big food drive, Feeding America has a Virtual Food Bank Fundraiser tool you can use, so you can do it all digitally. You can set goals & people can donate online via a secure website, which is a great option for the busy families who want to help.
Give to Feeding America – You can do your part by giving to Feeding America, an organization that has 200 food banks across the US (they have several in the Northwest). You can donate your time, donate food or donate online to support this organization helping support families who are facing hunger issues.
Let us know if you have other creative ways to help raise awareness & do your part to Share a Meal & give more to those in your community. You can also find more resources & ideas on the Project Sunlight website.
Make sure to check out this short documentary, too, to learn how hunger is directly impacting families. It’s called “Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Childhood Hunger”. This is a very touching, short film featuring the stories of several families who have faced hunger struggles within their own families.
Head to Project Sunlight if you’d like to learn more about how you can help do your part to put an end to Childhood Hunger and learn more about what others are doing around the country to make a difference.
We will also be sharing in a few weeks how we will be working with our families to make a difference in our community to Share a Meal & join the fight against hunger. We’d love to hear about what your family is doing as well!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Unilever. All opinions are 100% mine. See our disclosure policy for more details.
