This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons Companies & Hunger Is. The opinions and text are all mine.
One of the things I love about blogging is spreading the word on the good things happening in the world – and in our local community. This campaign is one of those! Albertsons Companies presents Hunger Is. It’s a partnering of the Albertsons Companies Foundation charitable program and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) to build awareness of childhood hunger in America. And to put an end to it by fundraising!
Albertsons Companies “Hunger Is” campaign runs through September 30th, 2016. The focus is to aid childhood hunger efforts in America, specifically breakfast.
Through this program, I learned that 1 in 5 children in America live in households without consistent access to adequate food. And that three out of five K-8 public school teachers report seeing students attend school hungry – on a regular basis. How can those kids concentrate on learning if they are starving? This can lead to lifelong bad eating habits. Why? Because families who can’t afford to buy healthy ingredients for meals will often rely on cheap meals such as .99 fast food burgers, side dishes as main entrees or even candy bars!
When the kids were in grade school (see photo below), I’m not gonna lie, we struggled. We are a family of creatives, sometimes in the early days we went without a steady paycheck. One way or another we made ends meet. After paying our house and utilities, we made sure the kids had their lunch money and then the groceries. With the help of planning and using coupons and sales, we learned how to stretch a dollar in every direction you could imagine. Rice and beans, baby! I knew we couldn’t go on like that. That’s around the time I started working at the newspaper. Oh lordy, that steady paycheck sure came in handy!
But even when you think you have it rough, there is always someone in a worse predicament.
Also during that time so many years ago, my husband was in a band and sometimes it tooks days before the club owner would pay for a gig. Not cool. One week we had $50 to last us for the week, tensions ran high. Then we heard a knock on our front door at 10 at night. It was one of the band members, a single dad who worked full-time. He had his little kids in the car – about the same age as ours, they were starving and they didn’t have money for food. He asked us for an advance on the gig money, at least $5 to buy them 2 for $1 tacos for dinner and a dollar breakfast sandwich to have before school. I couldn’t believe he could buy meals for so cheap at a fast food drive through! His kids were hungry and he was determined to find a way to feed them that night. I felt bad that their only option was to eat cheap fast food, I wish there had been a program like this that could have helped them. We pitched in to help, because we knew he would do the same for us! I never took anything for granted again.
So whenever I see these kinds of programs, I always gladly donate what I can. Here in Phoenix at my local Albertsons on 19th Avenue and Northern, they have signs up at every register to to encourage people to do the same.
The focus for the program is breakfast so kids can get revved up for a day of learning! Their slogan is “Make Breakfast Happen So Kids Can Be Hungry For More.”
There are two ways you can contribute!
There are 2 ways shoppers can participate: 1. Look for tags on participating items in Albertsons stores, .10 of these items will go towards the program. 2. Donate at the register! You can add $1, $3, or $5, or any dollar amount to your purchase.
The neat thing is that many items already in your basket that you buy will help raise funds for the cause – look for items that have the tag. Brands such as Rubbermaid, Bayer, Henkel, Campbell’s, Pepperidge Farms, Unilever, and more. Every unit sold of these tagged items in September 2016, $0.10 goes back to our local market (like here in Phoenix for example), up to $1M nationally!
For more information, visit Albertsons Companies “Hunger Is” campaign.
