6 Ways to Share a Meal and Help End Child Hunger
When I was young, I remember driving somewhere with my parents on the freeway. I saw a family with kids playing under the freeway overpass. They weren’t just hanging out – they lived there. I remember feeling so sad at the hunger the family must be facing, especially the kids. After that experience, I volunteered with my church to hand out food to the homeless on Skid Row and even collected donations from local businesses to give to the food bank. It was an awesome experience!
Now that I am a mother and stepmother, I have even stronger feelings about ending child hunger. I never want to see our children, nor any other child, go hungry if I can help it. When I learned that right here in America, we have 16 million children struggling hunger, I was inspired to do something to help. I had no idea there were so many kids struggling with hunger. That number is basically means that 1 in 5 children is unaware of where their next meal is going to come from. One of these children could be our neighbor or our child’s best friend. Thanks to Unilever Project Sunlight, I am helping to spread the word about how we can “Share A Meal to Help Turn the Tables on Child Hunger in America.”
What Is Unilever Project Sunlight?
Unilever 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 and even share more. This Fall, the initiative will be focusing on child hunger and will be encouraging all consumers to get involved and uncover the reasons they share a meal.
How I Helped Share A Meal and End Child Hunger
I was inspired to help Share A Meal with Unilever Project Sunlight. For my project, I chose to put together a donation box to give to our local Food Bank here in Nipomo. There was a time when money was tight for myself and I had resources that made it possible so we never went without food. Now that we are blessed, I want to pay it forward. I also collected food donations from my family and friends for the cause. Do you want to help end child hunger? Here are 6 Ways to Share A Meal and Help End Child Hunger!
6 Ways to Share A Meal and Help End Child Hunger
1 – Share A Meal Potluck. Host neighboring families for a dinner and invite a family in need to join.
2 – Get Your Community Involved. Partner with a local community organization to host a community potluck in your area.
3 – Local Food Drives. Organize your very own food drive or utilize the Feeding America online Food Bank Locator tool to get in touch with a local food and volunteer at a food drive.
4 – Host a Virtual Food Drive. Plan a virtual food drive with measurable goals online using the Feeding America Personal Fundraiser tool and promote participation in your community.
5 – Volunteer at Your Local Food Bank. A great way to help end child hunger is by donating your time to your local food bank. It could involve organizing food at the food bank or even serving up meals at the local soup kitchen.
6 – Give a Gift Basket Filled with Food to a Family in Need. The holidays are coming and it’s the perfect time to deliver a basket of food and other goodies to a family in need. I like to include pasta, rice, canned vegetables and fruits, soups and brownie mixes in my gift baskets.
How would you “Share A Meal” to help end child hunger?
This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.
I love this article. I think most people do not realize just how many kids in the US go hungry. Almost all the worldwide organizations to help end hunger now include the US in in places who receive the donations. There are many kids who there only hot meal or meal period is at school.
I commend you on trying to raise awareness of this huge issue and by giving us specific ways to help, it makes the problem not seem so overwhelming that we think well, I can’t do anything.
This sounds like a great cause! My work is having a month long food drive competition to help provide some families food over the holidays.
This is amazing, I think that more people should be doing things like this!
This is such an awesome campaign! It makes me sad to think about any child not getting enough to eat.
We do food donations at church often. We feed the poor out of our parish office every day so I like to donate as much as we can.
I encourage my kids to donate and we actually give to our church for those who need it. My heart breaks whenever I hear of kids going hungry.
Our school is currently involved with food collection. I do wish that food collections were not just thought about during the holidays, at least that is when our schools do it.
I’ve been feeding the homeless in our community for years, it is sad when you see a mom get out of car (that they live in) with her kids. My heart breaks, no child should ever go hungry, cold or homeless. My daughter is raising money right now in our neighborhood for a program at church that helps kids get a meal and off the streets – there’s no reason it should be this way in our country, makes me so sad.
What a great campaign, and so many easy ways to help. No child should be allowed to go hungry.
What a wonderful program! I love things like this, and it’s so important to help those who need the help.
I love this! Especially the idea of bringing a meal to someone or inviting a person/family over.
we have always donated food every month to our local food bank. I also volunteer for the schools Breakfast for Learning program. Project Sunlight looks like a great way to fight hunger.
Thank you the great ways to help end child hunger. As an elementary school teacher I see first hand the devastation.
I think these are all great ideas. So often though, we remember those hungry around this season (the holidays) but tend to neglect their needs throughout the rest of the year. I would challenge all of you to carry on doing these things throughout the rest of the year.
This is really great! It is sad that there is still such a big hunger problem in the United States! I hope that everyone does what they can to help!
We donate every year to our local schools. Our JROTC and band make care packages for neighboring families.
I think this is a great campaign. It’s ridiculous how many go hungry in this country every day. Thank you for helping to feed those in your community!
I’m running a neighborhood donation right now and I’ve been blown away by how much people are dropping off. I can’t wait to bring it all to the food pantry.
This is such a great campaign! Hunger is such an issue. I see kids at my kids school always hungry and asking other kids for
Snacks. I send some extras in case. So sad
This is such a great initiative, and I love what you did to help. Childhood hunger breaks my heart. It’s so horrible to think about all the sweet kids out there who go hungry every day.
It is so important to give back and you obviously agree. Kudos to you!
Wow! What a fantastic organization! We are big supporters of the food bank in our town. Especially around the holidays! I just took four bags of groceries over there last week!
I love donating food during the holiday season. Give to others so that they can have a meal with their families.
Sometimes, an act of giving can save people and a life too – this is a good way to share to those in need.
How awesome. I want my kids to know how fortunate they are. We will be volunteering early Thanksgiving morning to give out food.
During the holidays is really when volunteering for me goes into high gear. Feeding families during the cold is really a great cause. Great campaign.
I love programs like this too. We donate during the holidays and through the drives that go on throughout the year. There’s really so much more we could do though, and it just makes sense to do what you can!
I absolutely love this initiative. I only recently started sharing more about how I’ve been in situations where I’ve needed my local food bank (as in, as recently as a couple of months ago, I’ve only just stabilized my living situation). I used to think that people would look at me differently. Honestly, though, I think being more public about it lets others know they’re not alone. It’s wonderful, thoughtful people like you who helped keep food on my table at times, so thank you! Now, I do anything I can to pay it forward.
This is such a great initiative. It is sad that so many children go hungry in this country.
Awesome campaign. Anything to help stop children from going hungry is important. I volunteer with my church often donating foods to families in need of food.
These are great tips. I would have never thought to do a virtual food drive. I really like that idea.
I just sent a ton of food to school with my daughter for their food drive. I think its so important to help this cause and get our children involved too!