How We Can Help End Child Hunger in the US #FightHungerTogether

There are nearly 16 million children in America at risk of going hungry. The mother in me wants to make sure every one of them is fed. It makes me so sad to know that so many of our nation’s children do not have enough to eat. I want to help them all. The reality is that would be impossible for one person like me to do! But what one person like me, and like you, CAN do is help the children within our own communities. You and I have been blessed with the opportunity to take action. We can get our family and friends involved in efforts to end child hunger.

April is National Service Month and the perfect service project literally landed in my lap a couple of weeks ago. Our local Boy Scout troops needed help hanging flyers for a food drive to benefit our local food pantry. My family is very involved with Scouting, so I volunteered us to put flyers on doors in a 16-square block radius. The flyers told people what time to leave nonperishable food item donations on their doorstep for a Saturday morning pick-up.

It took me, my husband and kids a few hours over the course of several days to cover our area with flyers. But we felt happy and relieved when the job was done. I also went and shopped for my family’s food pantry donation. Once again, I could not believe my good luck. Our local grocery store has twice a year “Case Lot Sales” where you can get awesome prices when you buy cans of food by the case. I was able to stretch the $50 I had to spend on food, and purchased a variety of cans including fruits, vegetables, beans and spaghetti sauce. It was the biggest food donation I have ever put out on my porch!

I felt very proud of our local community when we got the word that 14,712 pounds of food was donated on that single Saturday! I appreciate our local food pantry’s efforts to feed needy families in our area. I am so glad my family could have a small part in that ongoing effort.

Our local food pantry helps feed hungry children and helps my own children learn to do service for others in need. This service project gave me the chance to talk to my kids about the fact that 1 in 5 American children are at risk of going hungry. That is a lot of kids! We talked about how lucky our family is to have enough food to eat. We are thankful for what we have. We can show our thanks by helping others who are less fortunate.

One simple service project can lead to another. There are even more ways we can get involved.

How We Can Help End Child Hunger in the US

1. Donate to your local food pantry.

2. Join the Child Hunger Ends Here movement.

3. Sign up to Make Your Mark on Hunger.

Join the Child Hunger Ends Here movement. 

Look for the red pushpin on specially marked packages of ConAgra Foods® brands and Kings Hawaiian® breads—at the grocery or in your pantry—and enter the code online at ChildHungerEndsHere.com. One Code equals One Meal. For every code entered between March and August 2015, ConAgra Foods will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to Feeding America, up to 3 million meals.

Invite your Friends to Join the Child Hunger Ends Here movement.

When you invite one or more friends, ConAgra Foods will donate one more meal. It’s that easy.

Find other ways to help.

Visit ChildHungerEndsHere.com to find more ways to help end child hunger. Your family can donate to your local food pantry, sign up to Make Your Mark on Hunger, reach out to get friends involved and more.

Watch what happens when a group of kids learns about child hunger in America. Soul Pancake recorded their responses and ideas. Just a head’s up, this video will (most likely) make you cry. What amazing children! I don’t know these kids personally, but I am proud of them and their willingness to help end child hunger in the United States.

Conagra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have been committed for more than 20 years to fighting child hunger in America, donating food and investing in partnerships to find solutions that are within reach. Conagra Foods is also getting our youth involved in the effort. They are awarding grants to young people who are fighting hunger in neighborhoods across the country. Click to learn more about their approach to fighting hunger.

Did you know that so many American children are at risk for hunger? Do you have any Red Pushpin Codes to enter online? How will you get involved in the fight against hunger?

This blog post is brought to you by Conagra Foods through an opportunity presented to me by The Motherhood. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.