Saturday, August 8, 2009

Blog It Forward To Fight Hunger

ShopRite and General Mills will donate a box of cereal to a local food bank for each comment (up to 30 comments) left for this post. So, please do a good deed today and leave a comment - ANY comment and do a small part in alleviating hunger in our local community!

Hunger. 36 million Americans go to bed hungry each night. Don't gloss over that number. Ponder it a bit. 36 MILLION. About 12 million are children. Many are WORKING families, despite our preconceived notions. A large portion are the elderly on a tiny, fixed income. There is no reason in this great land of abundance that people should be starving. There is no reason a baby or young child should cry themselves to sleep from hunger. There is no reason that the cheapest foods to obtain are the most unhealthy, and therefore access to fruits, vegetables, milk and protein are severely limited with families struggling financially. Such poor nutrition has a lasting physiological and cognitive impact on young children.

Now you know. As Maya Angelou says, "Once you know better, you do better." To know means you now own the choice for action or inaction. When you choose inaction, it IS a choice. Because, once you know better... you can no longer claim ignorance.

It's so difficult to find the time, and there are so many wonderful causes to support. How do we find the time and energy? That's where organizations like ShopRite's Partners In Caring can help. They organize the community effort, and you participate simply as you shop for your family. You can make choices every time you are in the grocery store. Choices that can help another family. Every time you chose a product with a Partners In Caring shelf tag, you are supporting the manufacturers that are dedicated and committed to the fight against hunger in America. The dollars collected from ShopRite's Partners In Caring go to a variety of organizations with meal components such as soup kitchens, battered women's shelters, senior centers, child care and after school programs, and more.

For 20 years, ShopRite has been committed to helping the hungry in our communities through their ongoing support of the Feeding America Network and the Check Out Hunger Program. About a decade ago, ShopRite was inspired to create ShopRite Partners In Caring which has been a huge success! ShopRite, with the help of over 50 manufacturers including General Mills, has been committed to supporting over 20 qualified, regional food banks and 1,400 agencies with food/meal components.

How can you help reduce or eradicate hunger in your community?
1) Leave a comment here. For each comment left (up to 30 comments) a box of cereal will be donated to a local food bank curtosey of ShopRite and one of their wonderful partners, General Mills.
2) When shopping at your local ShopRite, choose products that are designated "Partners In Caring." You'll see them labeled on the shelf tags, or you can view a list of them HERE. Remember, food banks don't just need food at the holdiays, which is when giving tends to increase. Think about how to help families who are hungry all year long!
3) Have a food drive in your neighborhood, religious group, at a holiday party, birthday party, your child's school or team, or at work.
4) Volunteer at a local food bank. You can bring your older kids and instill in them the value to giving back and caring for others in need.
5) Look for the Check Out Hunger program in your ShopRite stores. When you're checking out, you can add $1.00, $3.00, or $5.00 to your total bill to support ShopRite's hunger initiatives. Did you know that $1.00 can purchase 10 POUNDS of food?!?!? You CAN make a big difference with a single dollar!!!

30 comments:

Unknown said...

I did this on my blog, too! I think it's a great program.

michelle said...

Yes. There are entirely too many folks going to bed hungry in this country. Every time I walk into a SUPERmarket I'm astounded at the abundance of food. And I always wonder what happens to the wilted, outdated, a little bit stale stuff. Dumpster?? Too much waste and too much hunger.

This is my feel good deed for the day.
Thanks for providing...

Beth L. Gainer said...

This is a very moving posting about a very real problem. It's amazing how the poor and hungry in this country get overlooked. It's a shame because no one should have hunger in this supposed land of opportunity.

BJ_Mama said...

HOW AWESOME! What a great cause...thank you for doing this!

Tanya @ TeenAutism said...

Great idea - hope it helps!

Beth C. said...

thanx for the eye-opener; I will definitely do more donating and selective purchases.

erin said...

Excellent! My daughters love raiding our pantry for the food drive at school every year. They always end up taking more food to school than all of the other kids, and we're not very wealthy to begin with!

BeckyO2001 said...

I hope this helps!

Michelle said...

Thank You Shoprite and General Mills!

Anonymous said...

Cool! Thanks for this post.

Kori said...

You know, you ahve touched on one of my all-time passions, the fact that we have people in our neighborhoods going hungry. kids going hungry, in the richest nation in the world. thank you for doing this.

Laura said...

GREAT idea!!!!!!!!!! I can read blogs AND make a difference??????????? Briliant.

Margo said...

I'm going to link this on my post - I wish it was more than 30 because I bet we could cajole more comments out of blogland if we work together.

Anonymous said...

Awesome program! Hope this helps.

Windy Days said...

Hi - I came over from Margo (she's my great love :) Thank you for doing this - good luck!

shane rocket said...

I love the fact that you are doing this program. Way to go Shoprite and General Mills. It is a sad day until every mouth is fed.

lesbo said...

this is amazing!

Steph(anie) said...

This is a great post. Thank you.

small town dyke said...

this is a great project!

Mel said...

So awesome!

Maggie May said...

This is great!

Dani Magestro said...

Yay! Awesome!

two cat scene said...

comment comment comment comment

Mrs4444 said...

Please don't jump on me for saying this, but I don't understand how people go to bed hungry when there are so many programs out there offering food (food for moms with babies, food stamps, food banks, co-ops, free school meal programs, churches). Don't get me wrong; I grew up on food stamps and free stuff, so I "get" the hunger part. I just don't know why anyone still goes hungry. I'm open to education, so feel free...

Unknown said...

who knew a comment on a blog could have any "real" importance in the world...the times are changing.

Elizabeth said...

What a wonderful cause, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to comment. I've missed your blog posts this past week and hope that all is well.

Holly said...

What a great program.. and you are right, it is a disgrace that people go hungry in this country--such a wealthy country!!

tiffrutherf said...

Neat program!! I'm in!

Single Dad / Disabled Daughter said...

One can only hope it helps ...

Anonymous said...

As comment #31 I missed the cut off, but I wanted to say that this looks like a really neat program.

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