Join Me to Make a Difference in Your Community This Summer By Filling Empty Tummies! #Odwalla4Kids

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Odwalla, and Champions for Kids #cbias #SocialFabric As always, all opinions are honest and my own.

This week I’ve been doing a whole food cleanse and as excited as I am to get my body in good working order, it has been very challenging to avoid many of the yummy foods I’m used scarfing down. Of course not being able to have what I want to eat when I want to eat it is not easy and it really has challenged me to think about how blessed I am. There are so many individuals, families and even children out there that go hungry day after day – and it certainly isn’t by choice.

Did you know that according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 16.7 million children under 18 in the United States live in households where they are unable to consistently access enough nutritious food necessary for a healthy life.  That is a lot of empty little tummies. 🙁 So many that more than 1 in 5 children do not know where their next meal is coming from.
My growling belly and the reminders of the reality of child hunger in the US couldn’t have come at a better time this week as I was recently challenged to participate in a Simple Service Project with Odwalla! Here was the challenge for my project:

GATHER your friends, family, and co-workers to fight hunger in the summer by hosting a food drive in your community.

LEARN about the needs of children in your community by asking a food pantry volunteer, school nurse, or social worker to talk with your group about their experiences.

GIVE the food items that you collect to a food bank in your community so that children and families will have enough to eat this summer.

SHARE your story with us at www.championsforkids.org/share so that we can celebrate your participation!
Thanks to Champions for Kids and Odwalla I had the opportunity to head on over to my local Walmart to purchase delicious and nutritious Odwalla products to donate to Food Bank of the Rockies.

I gotta say, shopping is fun, but shopping for items to give away is even more fun!
With very little time and effort I was able to load a a huge box stuffed full of the Odwalla products that I picked up along with a bunch of other items donated by some generous neighbors, family and friends that wanted to help too! It was such an awesome experience and although I’ve made many, many trips to Food Bank of the Rockies over the past couple of years, this one was special since it was a community effort. 🙂 Make sure to check out my Google+ album for more pictures of my project.

The summer is a challenging time for food banks across America, so I was super excited to make a special donation to help stock their shelves.  Hunger has no season and no expiration date so now is the perfect time to make a difference.
Now, I want to turn it over to you and ask you to help make a difference in your community by fighting hunger this summer! Here is the challenge:

Gather your friends, family, students, and co-workers by hosting a “Hunger in the Summer” project at your school, workplace, or community center. Ask each person to bring nutritious non-perishable snacks to donate to a local food pantry in your community to help kids have a happier and healthier summer! Nutritious snacks like Odwalla Bars for Kids would be great to give. You could even consider giving out prizes to the person who donates the most food at your office or community organization!

To get started make sure to check out the Champions for Kids Odwalla website and be sure to check out Odwalla on their website, on Twitter and on Facebook. Special thanks to Odwalla for motivating all of us to make a difference this summer.

*For those of you that are local Colorado readers, I hope to be announcing a very special Bargain Blessings giving back initiative soon – so make sure to keep an eye out for more details!

Do you donate to help your community? What are your favorite items to donate? Where is your favorite place to donate? Do you have any suggestions for readers who are just getting started with donating their abundance?