<p>[School’s</a> Out for Summer, and More Kids Risk Going Hungry](<a href=“School's Out for Summer, and More Kids Risk Going Hungry”>School's Out for Summer, and More Kids Risk Going Hungry)</p>
<p>A lot of times people donate on the holidays, but remember that kids aren’t in school and getting free lunch and breakfast and foodbanks are very important in the summers.</p>
<p>Also if you have a backyard garden and have extra produce you can donate that also.:)</p>
<p>An acquaintance who volunteers at a food bank bluntly told me that what they need most is cash to acquire fresh products, especially in the winter. I keep this in mind when donating. It’s one thing to clean out your pantry and share what you already have on hand, but I always wonder why people purchase groceries then drop off food at the grocery collecting bins? It seems quite inefficient to me.</p>
<p>Our rotary club started a program of going to the local farmers’ markets at the end of the day and collecting whatever produce, baked goods, etc the vendors wanted to donate to the food bank. It seems like a great program. I’m also happy to see that many of the vendors accept WIC vouchers.</p>
<p>I donate monthly to our local food bank through United Way. (There is always a big UW campaign at work.) But I have to wonder if it would be more cost efficient to donate directly to the food bank.</p>
<p>Good reminder poetgirl.</p>
<p>Our neighborhood park has a wading pool and a small activity center.
When my kids were little, the pool would be filled and the city ran a day program that came with free lunch staffed by local teens.
But now they don’t even fill the pool let alone run the program.
:(</p>
<p>* but I always wonder why people purchase groceries then drop off food at the grocery collecting bins? It seems quite inefficient to me.*</p>
<p>When I buy food to use at home, I usually do so I don’t have extra for the donation boxes.
I also don’t buy much canned food.
When I go to the grocery store, I usually do with an eye for what is a really good deal and nutritious for both donating to the food bank and for sending to my college student daughter!
I watch for normally expensive things that can make a difference in taste like spices & special condiments.</p>
<p>I have a monthly donation charged to my credit card. That way I don’t have to remember to donate. I spent time last fall on the gleaning crew, going into fields once the farmers are done and harvesting fresh produce for the food bank. I have taken groups of scouts to the large central repack center, where donations are sorted for distribution to local sites. There is a lot going on there and many ways to contribute.</p>
<p>I donate monthly to our local food bank through United Way. (There is always a big UW campaign at work.) But I have to wonder if it would be more cost efficient to donate directly to the food bank. >>>>>>>>></p>
<p>Easy answer. Yes.</p>
<p>Our church donates to two local food pantries, which give us a list of items each week that they need. People bring things on Sunday, then somebody delivers them to the food pantries.</p>
<p>EK-they still have a similar program throughout WA State for free breakfast, lunch and snack. Some are still at city parks. Many are where there are summer camp programs. The church where I work is a site. It covers the entire span from when school gets out until a week before it starts again. We do see neighborhood kids come to get meals. The program we host is for low-income kids so they get the food as well.</p>
<p>Our shelter gets our food from the food bank. The one thing that is always, ALWAYS lacking is milk. I’m not sure if food banks always accept perishable foods but shelters almost always do and they’re almost always desperately needed.</p>
<p>Our church runs a backpack program for children from local schools and we continue it through the summer. We buy the little nonperishable boxes of “shelf milk”.</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread, poetgirl.</p>
<p>I’m bumping this thread because it’s July. Just a friendly reminder. B-) </p>
<p>Great reminder. I also donate monthly via payroll deduction to Project Bread which serves Eastern MA, but I think I might send a check to the local pantry this month too. A neighboring city opens schools in low income areas and serves hot lunch throughout the summer, knowing that that is often the only meal those kids may get. How sad. </p>
<p>I have a community garden. We are each assigned a plant to grow within our garden to donate whatever we are able to - my assigned plant is “pepper” - so I am donating green, banana and jalapeno peppers as they produce! </p>
<p>Great ideas. Our local food bank is always in need of peanut butter. One of our Sunday School kids supposedly had a record for encouraging a record number of jar of peanut butter during his shift at the grocery store. </p>
<p>Supposedly the food bankd y get 3x donation when a volunteer is there handing out bag during their annual food drive. Usually the get about 70,000 pounds of donated food. Inefficient… yea. But it works. </p>
<p>Such a good idea. I just wanted to throw this out there for college students…when I was in college, I had a meal plan with certain amount of swipes to the dining hall, but also dining dollars that allowed me to purchase food. Dining dollars didn’t roll over in between school years. I guess I ate cheap food or didn’t eat much, but one year I had $300 left by the last 2 weeks of school. I started buying a ton of non-perishable items to donate to the food bank right in town.</p>
<p>I had about 10 grocery bags of cereals, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, soups, frozen meals like SmartOnes, Amy’s Pizza bites, protein bars, chips and salsa (sometimes its nice to treat yourself to a snack!), pudding, jello, vitamin water…basically everything the little on campus store sold. The people at the food bank were so excited. They later told me how excited kids were when they came in and saw mac and cheese and chocolate pudding 
I always think of that now when I donate food. Obviously, every donation is wonderful and any canned food helps, but sometimes it’s nice to give “fun” food too, especially for the kids. I also heard that Frosted Flakes were a big hit haha. </p>
<p>Not many college kids have money left over, and most of my friends were scrounging off me towards the end of every semester. But I did know quite a few kids who had like $20 or $50 left over. Rather than letting it go to waste, might as well buy a few boxes of cereal and donate them! </p>
<p>Glad you bumped this thread, poetgrl. In my community, meals are served at community centers during the summer to children 18 and under. Many of these children receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year and need help during the summer months. I’m happy to donate for this. </p>
<p>Bumping again. Just sent a check to county food bank. We have made an effort to spread our donation dollars through the year instead of a check-writing spree right during holiday gift-giving time.</p>
<p>Christmas in July 
</p>