Why Feeding the Hungry is so Important to Me & the Most-Needed Donations

**Full Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone. #GoldPeakFightsHunger #CollectiveBias

I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about it before but I’m here to tell you how important feeding the hungry is! I think it’s so important that I run a non-profit at our elementary school which feeds kids who wouldn’t otherwise have food over the weekend. I can’t imagine opening the cabinets and seeing nothing. Sure, I complain about not having food to eat but that’s not a real complaint. It’s more about being bored with the food I have.

Feeding the Hungry – Most-Needed Food Donations:

For our non-profit, we ask primarily for monetary donations because we are then able to purchase the same foods for each child. For food banks, though, it doesn’t matter if everything is the same. Here’s a list of the most-needed food donations:

1. Peanut Butter
2. Cereal
3. Tuna
4. Beans
5. Rice
6. Mac and Cheese
7. Chili
8. Canned Stews
9. Canned Soups
10. Canned Luncheon Meats
11. Full Meals in a Can or Box
12. Pop-Top Food Items

Why I Volunteer –

As a first-time volunteer with the non-profit, we packed and delivered backpacks full of food. As I delivered into a classroom, one child said, ‘Oh good! I get to eat this weekend!!’ and then she hugged me. I held back the tears until I was back in the hallway. She is a big reason I stuck with volunteering for the organization, and ultimately the reason I now run it. For the non-profit, each week I use donated funds to purchase, pack and deliver food. This year we fed about 70 kids each weekend for the entire school year plus each day of Spring Break, Christmas and Thanksgiving.

The San Antonio Food Bank –

• San Antonio has a Food Bank which provides 74,000,000 meals annually! Isn’t that number staggering?!
• To volunteer at the San Antonio Food Bank, you’ll need to register ahead of time.
• Kids under 16 years old are required to have adult supervision while they volunteer. I thought children needed to be at least 8 years old to volunteer so we’d put off making time to go out and sort food. We aren’t waiting any longer – we have registered to volunteer at the warehouse this weekend!
• A donation of just $1.00 will provide 7 meals.

Beverage of Choice –

I bought a 6-pack of Gold Peak® Sweet Tea at Target and shared with my youngest son, Colin, after we packed and delivered the last of the backpacks for the school year. He was so excited that he was able to spend time volunteering and even more pumped when I told him I saved a Gold Peak for him! It was nice to sit down and enjoy our tea together. Volunteering makes for fantastic bonding time!

Gold Peak is partnering with Feeding America to help fight hunger –

• Text “GIVE” to 26739 and Gold Peak will donate a $1 to Feeding America!
• Every $1 donated provides at least 10 meals to people in need.
• Visit find your local food bank to learn more on Gold Peak’s initiative and where one can support their local Food Bank for a chance to receive a $1,000 donation from Gold Peak.
• 10 food banks will be selected to receive a $1,000 donation.

Feeding America has 200 member food banks across the nation, find your local food bank to support!