Child Hunger Ends Here

Nearly 17 million children face hunger in the U.S. ConAgra Foods is working with Feeding America to change that. Look for codes on these participating ConAgra Foods brands, and enter them at childhungerendshere.com

MOLLY’S STORY: How One Blogger Saw Neighbors in Need and Got Involved

Learn more about Molly from The Snyder 5 as she guests blogs about her experience as a Child Hunger Ends Here blogger correspondent.

When I first was asked to join in the ConAgra Foods Child Hunger Ends Here campaign I didn’t pause. I didn’t stop to think. I just knew. Yes. I had to do it. I wanted to do it.

I lived in Chicago for about ten years. It’s impossible, living there, not to see faces of hunger daily. But you didn’t often see the children. You knew they were there, but it wasn’t their faces you were seeing every day.

However, I think, in my mind, I imagined them. I could picture, I thought, their lives. Their worlds.

As I began to work on this program I realized that while the images I had seen and pictured were very real. They were not the only ones.

Hunger doesn’t have a universal look. Hunger doesn’t have a universal story.

That struck me the most when I was looking at the statistics for my children’s school district’s free and reduced lunch program. Nearly seventy percent of the children in our district are eligible for that program. Seventy percent.

I really, finally, got it. Hunger doesn’t have a look. It doesn’t have a pattern or a path. But it is a huge staggering problem. One that is affecting families who are, literally, in my neighborhood.

To try to do something, I organized a giant rummage sale among Minnesota bloggers. Nearly 30 families volunteered their time and donated their things. And after one day of standing together to do something about it, we raised nearly $1,000 to donate to Feeding America.

Reflecting on it, one of my friends mentioned that the reality was that each of those 30 families could have just donated $35 and we would have accomplished the same thing financially. But what we did, I think, is far more than that. We came together. We used our voices – online and off – to shed some light on this issues that is affecting our community and all communities. We fought child hunger.

Rallies That Rocked: A Block Party in the Park Makes a Big Impact for CHEH

A local park was the perfect setting for Chicagoland blogger Tamara Hubbard from The Unexperienced Mom to host a Child Hunger Ends Here Block Party on May 22. Children and parents arrived with food donations in hand and munched on caramel popcorn, hot dogs and cupcakes. Homemade games were set up to keep little ones entertained while adults enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in the sun. Tamara’s event raised $200 or 1,400 meals for the cause, and she says that she and her husband are already planning another block party for next year.

Read Tamara’s post about her rally.

Do you have a rockin’ rally story to share? Email a brief summary, your results and up to three photos to rallies@fleishman.com for a chance to have your event featured on our blog!

Thank You: The End is Only the Beginning

While the Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally Campaign has come to a close, the fight against child hunger will continue both on this blog, through the ConAgra Foods Foundation and with the help of readers like you.

Every rally, every re-Tweet, every post and word of encouragement has brought us one step closer to ending child hunger. We appreciate all of the support and will continue the discussion to encourage even more people to help the smallest victims of hunger live better lives. We will share more on our results in the coming weeks.

The Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally Campaign would like to personally thank our army of benevolent bloggers whose efforts both online and off have made this program a roaring success:

Many thanks to …
Kelly from The Centsible Life

Laura from MyDallasMommy
Niri from Mommy Niri
Christie from Inside The Chatter Box
Melinda from Look What Mom Found
Tamara from The Unexperienced Mom
Andrea D. from Mommy Snacks
Andrea F. from Savvy Sassy Moms
Courtney from Detroit Mommies
Jenny from The Suburban Jungle
Molly from The Snyder 5
Judy from Dirt Road Musings
Jessica from It’s my Life…
Danielle from Extraordinary Mommy

Thanks again to everyone for your help in the fight against child hunger!

Inside Look: How Food Banks Help Our Communities

The St. Louis Area Foodbank serves hungry men, women and children in 14 counties in eastern Missouri and 12 counties in southwestern Illinois. With the help of donors and volunteers, the food bank distributed more than 20 million pounds of food in 2009. In this video, you’ll meet the organization’s communications manager, Ryan Farmer, and see how this Feeding America facility supports those in need in the Show-Me state. Visit Feeding America to find how you can get involved in your area.

The Value of Volunteers

While financial donations can make a world of difference to local food banks, volunteers can be just as valuable. An entire day or just an afternoon spent at a food bank means you’re directly helping that facility feed more children. Lend a hand in your local community by:

Tutoring kids at your local Kids Cafe.
Repackaging donated food for use at food pantries.
Transporting food to charitable agencies.

Get involved, and make it even more fun by asking your family and friends to join the fight against child hunger. For information on opportunities in your area, please contact your local food bank.

There is also still time to host your own Child Hunger Ends Here rally. Turn a bake sale, lemonade stand even a movie night to a rally and donate all or a portion of the proceeds to Feeding America. Learn how you can get involved today

Texas on Top of List for Childhood Hunger! Here’s how to help!

Take a moment to read a blog post from Child Hunger Ends Here blogger correspondent Laurie from My Dallas Mommy.

Molly from The Snyder 5 talks about donating the money she raised for the Child Hunger Ends Here program benefiting Feeding America.

Child Hunger Ends Here Happenings: An Update on Our Campaign

As many of you know, ConAgra Foods launched a nationwide Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally campaign in March to raise awareness about the issue of childhood hunger in the United States, as well as raise money for Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization. Since the kick-off, the campaign has brought people from across the country together to feed those who cannot feed themselves. The realization that 17 million children in America struggle with hunger has led to incredible efforts by celebs, business owners and everyday Americans doing whatever they can to help. Here are just a few highlights of the Child Hunger Ends Here movement so far:

Kick-off Celebrity Rally on the Famous Wisteria Lane – the set of “Desperate Housewives”
Campaign spokesperson Dana Delany, one of the stars of ABC’s hit series “Desperate Housewives,” used the set of the iconic neighborhood as the backdrop to help promote the Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally campaign. Other Hollywood icons joined the fight by attending the kick-off event, including David Arquette, Kathy Ireland, Melissa Rivers, Andrea Bowen and Trevor Donovan. Celebs donated personal items and autographed loot that day, which were auctioned off online and resulted in a donation of more than $7,200 to Feeding America.

Bloggers on Board
In an effort to drive the issue of child hunger home on a local level, ConAgra Foods partnered with fourteen bloggers from across the country to support the campaign through their online platforms. In addition to posting information on their websites, each blogger hosted a Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally in their hometowns to set an example of just how easy and fun it is to get involved in the cause.

City-wide Proclamations
In addition, local mayor’s office across the country recognized the issue of child hunger in a big way by proclaiming an official “Child Hunger Ends Here” days in their respective cities. Nearly 14 cities from Naperville, IL to Atlanta, GA to Dallas, TX have joined the effort to help end child hunger in the U.S.

Getting Involved
To date, hundreds of rallies have been registered in the name of Child Hunger Ends Here and even more are anticipated over the coming months. However, we need your help to sustain the momentum. There is still time to host a rally of your own. Through July 31, you can turn a bake sale, church rummage sale, food drive, yard sale or other existing community events into a Child Hunger Ends Here

Neighborhood Rally by donating some or all event proceeds to Feeding America. And, all money collected through a direct online donation to Feeding America and food donated locally will stay in your local community. It’s difficult to believe that nearly 17 million kids in this country don’t get enough food to live active lives. It’s an issue that can’t be solved individually, but by rallying our friends and neighbors and taking a stand that child hunger ends here, we can make a difference.

Learn more at www.childhungerendshere.com.