I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Odwalla, and Champions for Kids. However, all opinions are my own. #cbias #SocialFabric”
Recently our family was asked to take part in a project that was near and dear to our hearts – helping the needy. Odwalla has joined with ChampionsForKids.org in fighting child hunger. Hunger in the Summer is a simple service project sponsored by Odwalla. Many of you know that we have a Toiletry Bank Ministry in our hometown, where we give toiletries (free of charge) to over 200 people each month. It seemed like a natural fit for us to be able to give to our local food pantry as well.
Of course our shopping trip involved coupons as always!
We also had to pick up a card and a gift for Teacher Appreciation as well, so we headed to Walmart to snag all the items we needed.
We decided to take Grandma along with us on this trip, because our entire family is involved in ministry. My mom is also a deacon on our church’s Samaritan Fund panel. This team gives financial help to needy families in our community, and they also donate to our ministry as well. We thought this would be a fun family project, and since Daddy had to work a double shift, we took Grandma instead!
After snagging our Teacher Appreciation items, we headed to the produce department, since we knew that the Odwalla bars were located there. We also knew there were Odwalla juices in the juice section of the store, but our main focus was on Odwalla bars this evening.
Odwalla also makes several juices and smoothies for adults and children! They are also rolling out a new bar for children as well! Make sure to check your local store for these new products!
Once we decided on our products, it was time to head to checkout. We quickly went through the checkout line and headed home to go through our donation and see what all our local families would be receiving.
We were pretty excited when we saw that our collection would feed over 50 kids and adults! Our son is learning to count by fives & tens (and adding on) so we turned this into a math lesson as well! We counted up our bars over 3 times and found that we had over 50 bars!
We couldn’t wait for Monday to arrive so we could take our donation to Maranatha Food Pantry in our local area. They take donations Monday-Friday and serve the public on the first, second, and third Tuesday (and Thursday) of each month. Our local Food Pantry also has a Cold Weather Drop-In Shelter, where homeless people can stay during the cold winter months. Our church and Sunday School class have donated meals to the Drop-in Shelter in the past.
We were so excited to see our products on the shelves!
One crucial lesson we learned is that so many families are in need right now during this economy. After speaking with Carmen at the Food Pantry, we realized how many needy families live right in our own community, especially families with children. We’re asking that our readers consider giving a donation to their local food banks as well, in hopes that we can help put a dent in childhood hunger!
More About Hunger in the Summer:
Help us build a better world for kids! When school lets out for the summer, millions of children lose access to the school breakfasts, lunches and afterschool snacks they receive during the regular school year. Only 1 out of 6 children who receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year continue to receive meals during the summer months. Low-income families with children face even more challenges during the summer when they stretch their food budget
to provide additional meals for their children. But you can help by doing an Odwalla Hunger in the Summer Project in your community!
Ways YOU Can Help!
GATHER your friends, family, and co-workers to fight hunger in the summer by hosting a food drive in your community. Nutritious snacks like Odwalla Kids Bars and Juice Boxes would be great to give! Consider giving out prizes to the person who donates the most food at your office or community organization! LEARN about the needs of children in your community by asking a food pantry volunteer, school nurse, or social worker to talk with your group about their experiences.
GIVE the food items that you collect to a food bank in your community so that children and families will have enough to eat this summer.
SHARE your story with us at www.championsforkids.org/share so that we can celebrate your participation! How many people were involved, and how many items did you collect? Please let us know that you are ONE of Millions who helped reach our goal to mobilize 20 Million people by 2020 to become Champions for Kids!
That is really cool seeing the Odwalla bars you just donated on the shelves. And donating over 50 bars is AWESOME! Those bars are pretty good sized too, so I know they will fill some tummies.
Hey, you’re awesome! What a great job showing your kids at an early age how to give to others. Kudos…or…uh ODWALLA to you! (fellow #cbias buddy) – Shiloh K
What a great organization to give to! I love that your donation was aimed at feeding hungry children, I know during the summer months there is an increased demand at food shelters while the kiddos are out of school. Thank you so much for sharing – it is wonderful to see people giving back to their communities!
Great job on the post and donations. It’s so nice to see you including your son and his grandma. Children definitely learn by example and his is obviously great! Thanks for helping out.