Hunger Is

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons Safeway . The opinions and text are all mine.

In the last few weeks you may have noticed this or similar signs as you’ve walked into any of the Albertsons Safeway family stores.  I’d like to take a moment to tell you what it’s all about and why it’s important to our family.

In an effort to help aid in the relief of childhood hunger in America, Albertsons Safeway stores have launched a national Hunger Is campaign that is running through September 30th.  The sad reality is that one in five children in America lives in a home without consistent access to adequate food.

I recently drove into a grocery store parking lot and no sooner had I pulled into a vacant space when two kids, a brother and a sister around the ages of 11 and 13, timidly came up to my car to ask for money for food.  Now whether these kids were really wanting the money for food or something/someone else I don’t know.  But what I do know is that this picture was very wrong and no child should be in a position like that.  Whatever circumstances these kids were living in, to be in a position where they were clearly humiliated having to ask for money was deeply concerning and it tugged at me for days. My kids were in the back seat snacking on pretzels and we were heading into the store to get ice cream and root beer for family floats that evening.  And here was a young brother and sister making their way around the parking lot begging for money.

I grew up never knowing what it was like to go hungry.  I grew up in a home where I could count on breakfast, lunch and dinner day after day, every day. One in five children in America can’t even count on one meal a day.

As a mother that statistic breaks my heart.  I cannot imagine my own children experiencing hunger, real hunger, and my heart aches to think of other children being so neglected.  And so I’ve partnered with Albertsons Safeway stores to help spread the word about the initiative they are running and to invite you to participate.

There are a couple of ways we can help:

Purchase Participating Products:  In addition to individual shoppers’ contributions, sales of select products from participating brands will generate donations to Hunger Is, up to $1 million.  Participating brands include Marie Callendar’s, Healthy Choice, Bertolli, P.F. Chang’s, Campbell’s, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Unilever (incl. Breyer’s and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream) and Albertsons’ private label brands (O Organics and Open Nature).  The distribution of the funds collected at each store to local food banks is being managed by the Alberstons Safeway family of stores and every purchase of a participating product supports the Hunger Is campaign with a donation towards feeding the hungry in local neighborhoods.

Donate at the register – Select Albertsons and Safeway stores have donation tabs on the key pin pad at the register where you can quietly and discreetly make a small donation.  

Participating stores include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons Pavilions, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, United Supermakets, Tom Thumb, Acme, Star Market, Shaws, Carrs, Market Stee, and Amigos.

Our family decided to participate in the Hunger Is initiative by going to our local Albertsons to purchase a few participating products.  We took our 3 and 5 year old kids to the store and and explained to them what we were doing.

Our kids were both enthusiastic to help their peers.  And on a small, sweet and innocent level they got it.

It’s regular small but meaningful family service opportunities like this that go a long way to making a difference in our communities.

 

 This initiative runs until September 30th.  There’s still time to make a difference.