One out of four children in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia faces hunger. When schools are closed for summer, kids have less access to nutritious meals as many rely on free or reduced school breakfast and lunch. This is why Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, has selected the Chattanooga Area Food Bank to receive a Hunger Free Summer grant funded by the ConAgra Foods Foundation to help provide more meals to kids when they need them most, when school is out for summer.
“The Hunger Free Summer grant allows us to provide meals to kids, so they don’t have to worry about food, and have more time to run, play and be kids,” said Maeghan Jones, president of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. “Working with Feeding America and our partners at ConAgra Foods Foundation through the Hunger Free Summer program, we will be able to provide more healthy meals to more children in the our service area.”
This summer, Chattanooga Area Food Bank is one of 23 Feeding America food banks in 15 states that will receive Hunger Free Summer grants, funded by the ConAgra Foods Foundation and distributed by Feeding America, to start new or expand existing summer feeding programs. These grants totaling $700,000––ranging from $20,000 to $40,000 each––will allow the food banks to serve food in school libraries during the summer months, provide meals to kindergarteners at summer camp and deliver boxes of food to families in need and beyond.
“Chattanooga Area Food Bank will use funds from the Conagra Summer Free Hunger grant to feed children in Murray (GA) and Grundy (TN) counties this summer,” said Marisa Ogles, director of development at Chattanooga Area Food Bank. “Through our partnership with Feeding America and the ConAgra Foods Foundation, we’ll be able to help these during the summer months, the time of year when kids are most vulnerable of going hungry.”
In addition to Hunger Free Summer grants, ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation are raising awareness of the increased risk for child hunger this summer by kicking off the first virtual live-streamed #HungerFreeSummer Tell-A-Thon on Wednesday, from 3-3:10pm CT, the third annual National Hunger Free Summer Day.
ConAgra Foods is partnering with YouTube sensation Kid President, played by Robby Novak, to host the first #HungerFreeSummer Tell-A-Thon, where the goal is to tell as many as 22 million people about the issue of summer hunger and encourage them to continue passing along the message or get involved in their community. But it does not stop there. People can continue participating and sharing to keep the messages alive all summer long. Here’s how:
- Tune In: People can watch the live-streamed kick-off of the #HungerFreeSummerTell-A-Thon hosted by Kid President on Wednesday, from 3-3:10 p.m. CT live via YouTube at https://youtu.be/0ohAeenGSXE and tell a friend about the issue of child hunger.
- Continue Telling Stories: Keep the tell-a-thon going after the kick-off by sharing your own video message or social post with friends and family to get the word out about summer hunger and help reach 22 million people by the end of the summer using the hashtag #HungerFreeSummer. Tag friends and family to encourage them to keep the message moving throughout summer, like an old-fashioned game of telephone.
- Hunger Free Fridays: Many ConAgra Foods’ products are marked with a red push pin and code. For each eight-digit code entered at www.ChildHungerEndsHere.com this summer, ConAgra Foods will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to Feeding America, up to three million meals. On every Friday between now and July 31, 1 code = 1 meal plus 1 bonus meal. Look for a message from Kid President on Hunger Free Fridays.