7 actions you can take during Hunger Action Month
September is Hunger Action Month
Join us for Hunger Action Month. Make September 2021 your time to take action on child hunger right here in Minnesota and right in your community.
PROBLEM
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve reached one of the highest rates of child hunger in Minnesota in decades with over 300,000 children living with food insecurity. These are children who don’t always know when they’ll get their next meal. We know hunger affects more than just children’s growth and physical well-being. Hunger also limits children’s intellectual and emotional development.
Yet child hunger is solvable because we believe it’s not a supply problem, but a distribution problem.
ACTION
Every Meal works to fight child hunger in our community by filling the gaps in food access that children face during weekends, summers, and extended breaks. Through our Weekend Food Program, we connect schools in need with sponsoring community organizations to provide children with meal bags filled with good food each Friday to help eliminate the weekend food gap. When they return to school on Mondays, their bellies are full and ready to learn.
7 Actions You Can Take to Fight Child Hunger:
Monetary donations are a simple and easy way to help us expand our work and stay nimble as the pandemic evolves. But there are many other ways you can support our work. Below are 7 actions you can take to help us fight child hunger. You can choose the level under each category that best fits the level at which you wish to engage.
- Volunteer to distribute meal bags: Distributing Every Meal bags in kid’s backpacks is at the heart of what we do. The 2021-2022 school year will be our biggest yet for getting food to kids – and volunteers make it possible. You’ll be helping make a direct impact on children living with food insecurity!
Green Level: Watch our Meal Bag Distribution Volunteer Tutorial video Blue Level: Fill out our interest form Orange Level: Share this volunteer opportunity with family and friends - Volunteer at a packing event: By volunteering at one of our public or private packing events at our warehouse in Roseville, you’ll be helping pack meal bags that get distributed to children across Minnesota.
Green Level: Sign up to volunteer Blue Level: Sign up to volunteer with a friend Orange Level: Sign up to volunteer with your family, colleagues, or team - Donate produce: When you donate produce, you’ll be helping provide fresh fruits and veggies to local children and families as part of our Grow & Give initiative.
Green Level: Donate produce from your home garden Blue Level: Collect and donate produce from family members’ or friends’ gardens Orange Level: Collect and donate produce from your community garden - Donate non-perishable food digitally: Donate non-perishable food from the comforts of your home. Browse and purchase food items from our grocery list. Your donation will be helping us stretch your dollars further with our bulk suppliers.
Green Level: Donate a case of the food item that appeals to you the most Blue Level: Donate a case of each food item listed in our grocery list (about $337 total) Orange Level: Ask a family member or friend to donate non-perishable food digitally too - Buy branded apparel: When you buy our branded apparel, you’ll be helping spread awareness about our organization and mission each time you wear it.
Green Level: Buy an Every Meal trucker hat (summer is not over yet!) for yourself Blue Level: Buy an Every Meal trucker hat for yourself and a friend Orange Level: Ask family or friends to buy our branded apparel too - Fundraise: Turn special occasions in September – like your birthday, wedding, baby shower, retirement, or other celebrations – into food for kids. By creating a fundraiser, you’ll be helping combine the giving potential of your network and reach more kids living with food insecurity.
Green Level: A $100 fundraising goal will provide meals for 25 children Blue Level: A $250 fundraising goal will provide meals for one child for an entire year Orange Level: A $2,500 fundraising goal will allow us to provide our program at a new school location - Spread the awareness: Awareness is the first step towards action. By using social media to tell family, friends, and colleagues about our work, you’ll be helping spread awareness about the child hunger issues we face in our state.
Green Level: Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn Blue Level: Share one of our Hunger Action Month posts on social media Orange Level: Encourage family and friends to take action in supporting Every Meal by tagging us in your post In whatever way you choose to learn about child food insecurity and take action during Hunger Action Month, we THANK YOU for taking a step towards fighting child hunger!