Honoring Hunger Awareness Month-Helping Children Thrive Without Hunger.
*Tommy is a local elementary school student. He was in the school nurse’s office one Friday because he was not feeling well. The nurse determined that Tommy had a fever and should go home and was surprised when he demanded to stay. Tommy is very close with his teacher, *Mrs. Smith, so he asked the nurse to call her to come talk to him. Mrs. Smith explained that Tommy needed to go home and rest to feel better, but Tommy insisted on staying. When Mrs. Smith asked why, Tommy replied, “So I can get my Cultivate backpack meals”.
To most of us, it’s unthinkable that a child needs to worry about how he will get his next meal. His favorite color crayon breaking in half, yes. His soccer team at recess losing, sure. Knowing the answer when the teacher calls on him, of course. Yet 45,000 children in our community are like Tommy, not confident when their next meal will be.
At the start of each school year, Cultivate has been able to add more local children to the backpack program. Currently, 1,500 students receive weekend meals, and with the addition of the Elkhart food processing location, there’s the opportunity for more.
$50 a month, the cost of takeout, provides six meals every weekend to kids like Tommy. Kids who, because of your generosity, can get back to playing soccer and coloring.
September is Hunger Awareness Month. Please consider honoring it by becoming a monthly donor. Click here to get started!
Volunteers make a difference for Hunger Awareness
Last month, volunteers packed an impressive 35,802 meals, with each volunteer averaging 49 backpack meals per session! These nutritious meals support local children in need. One volunteer shared their experience:
“The first time I volunteered, I was amazed by the quality of the food and the number of meals we packed. You’ll never regret volunteering your time to help your community!”
Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated volunteers, we continue to make a significant impact in the fight against hunger.
Record-Breaking August: 523,346 pounds of food rescued
Cultivate Food Rescue reached another record-breaking milestone last month by rescuing 523,346 pounds of food, marking the highest month of food-rescue to date! This achievement follows an incredible summer, where we successfully rescued nearly one million pounds of food in July and August. Over half of this was fresh fruits and vegetables!
Thank you to everyone who has supported our mission to reduce food waste and hunger in our community. Together, we are making a significant impact!
🏈 Cleats for a Cause Is Back!🏈
The Notre Dame Football Team brought back Cleats for a Cause. Partnering with Under Armor and with original artwork by a Notre Dame student, you have a chance to purchase this unique football memorabilia and support your local non-profits. Proceeds will be divided equally among five local organizations that were chosen by the players. The auction is open through Saturday, September 28th at 3pm EST. Bidding is available here.
New and Noteworthy
Learn more about what we do through these stories.