In our advanced and well organized American way of life, it’s hard to believe we still have child hunger. Yes, right here in America there are 16 million children who struggle with hunger – that’s the population of Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago combined. Are you as shocked as I am?
These are children who don’t have a voice to express their hunger. These children are from all areas of America – rural, urban and suburban and may even be in your own neighborhood.
Unilever is now promoting a program to advance awareness of our hungry American Children called Unilever Project Sunlight Share a Meal. Sharing a meal is something we can all do. Project Sunlight has the power to shine a light on what the face of child hunger in America looks like. The Unilever Project Sunlight is an initiative focused on encouraging people to work towards creating a brighter future for America’s children by taking small steps to live sustainably. We all know the amount of waste in our own homes, so if we work to use less and share more, all children can benefit from the plenty in our wonderful country. It doesn’t take much to start a thoughtful idea to feed a hungry child. Afterall, our children are our future.
I’ve been thinking about what I can do, and maybe you can do it, as well. It seems to me that most school aged children have access to free breakfast and lunches through our public school systems. Schools have been doing a great job of identifying and helping those children in need of a meal to keep them focused on doing well in school. A hungry child can’t learn as well as a well fed child. And we all know that an educated child has a much better chance of success in the world.
I’ve been aware of a program my sister in-law is involved in, in the Phoenix, AZ area. There is a group in place that helps provide food for children on the weekend, when they don’t have school meals available to them. You could organize this in your own school or expand it to your school district. It can either be done by seeking corporate sponsors or by organizing a weekly food drive of nutritional, non perishable foods and providing a backpack of food to take home for those children in need. Fill the backpack with enough energy packed food for 2 days, enough to hopefully supplement what they may have on hand at home, send the backpack home with the child at the end of the day on Friday and have them return it Monday morning.
Unilever is soon to release a “You Buy One, We Give One” limited time coupon offer for supermarkets nationwide. What a great way to kick-off the weekend backpack meals for hungry children. We should all get in the habit of buying one for our children, and buying another for a hungry child.
Unilever will donate one meal to Feeding America when you purchase any participating Unilever Product. If you need further incentive to think about how you can help, you can find the documentary which premiered on Oct 13th that reveals the power and the promise of a shared meal for families across America. The documentary focuses on the reasons other share, and may give you ideas on how you can share a meal – a simple act of kindness that will relieve the hunger of a child.
It breaks my heart to think of a child going to bed hungry. Let’s do what we can to help.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Unilever. The opinions and text are all mine.
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