Fight Hunger Together at Your Local Food Bank

I recently had a great teaching moment with my children, as the topic of child hunger in America was brought to the table one night. It was time for a talk and some hands-on action, with an initiative to fight hunger together.

While talking to my 10 and 8 year old children, I confirmed that nearly 16 million kids in America today are at risk of hunger— and when I stressed that that number is almost enough to fill 8,000 playgrounds, I saw the look of sadness in my children. Right there, we started brainstorming on ways to make a difference… starting in our own community.

My daughter suggested we take a trip to the store to buy food for those in need, so we did. In fact, with the help of The Motherhood, we purchased over $50 worth of non-perishables to donate to our local food bank!

It was then that I read about the Make Your Mark on Hunger Campaign, which challenges kids and teens to take action to address the issue of hunger in the US through meaningful hands-on service in their communities.

The campaign is brought to you by generationOn with the generous support of presenting sponsor ConAgra Foods Foundation. For each youth who engages in service from March 15—April 30, ConAgra Foods Foundation will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to Feeding America, up to 20,000 meals.

The Make Your Mark on Hunger campaign is free and easy, just sign up for tons of helpful tools and ideas! It’s a great way for the youth to make their mark on hunger, showing you the keys to helping youth learn about and take action on social issues in their community.

I signed up. And just as I went to look up volunteer details at our local food pantry, the perfect invitation came through in an email:

With the Martina McBride concert coming to Fort Worth, TX, I received an invitation to be a part of “Team Martina”, a volunteer organization making the world better through the healing power of music. Our mission for the weekend? A day of volunteering at the Tarrant County Food Bank. It was a great opportunity, and I’m honored that my children and I were invited!

We gathered our non-perishables and headed out for a day of volunteering. I loved to spend time with my children behind-the-scenes at the Food Bank and they couldn’t wait to tell their friends just how easy it was to help out. My mantra is “Help when you can, where you can!” The 16 person team packed over 2,000 meals in just 3 hours! We enjoyed spending the day at the food bank, and look forward to helping again over the summer!

Child Hunger Ends Here

ConAgra Foods^® has been committed to ending child hunger in America for nearly 20 years. This year, their goal is to put on the table for kids who are food insecure, one code and one meal at a time. And you can be a part of the movement! Simply look for the red pushpin on specially marked packages, and enter the code online—it’s that easy.

To date, 14,475 youth have volunteered their time to fight child hunger through the Make Your Mark campaign.

You can even apply for a grant from the Foundation! In fact, Mae Zimmer (from Dallas, Texas) and Will Lacey (from Fort Worth, Texas) have both received $500 grants from the ConAgra Foods Foundation as part of generationOn’s “Make Your Mark” on Hunger campaign. To learn more about the campaign and available grants, visit www.generationon.org/hunger.