September is Hunger Action Month
September is Hunger Action Month is the Feeding America network’s annual nationwide campaign designed to inspire people to take action and raise awareness of hunger in the United States.
Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation will be taking action the month of September by collecting canned and dry food goods at all 16 of our branches and at the Operation Center.
Food shouldn’t be an impossible choice. For many people in America, a daily meal isn’t a choice between different dishes. It’s a choice between food and other crucial needs—like medicine, electricity, or childcare. Children can feel the effects the hardest.
Inflation and rising costs of food are putting more families and children at risk for a lack of healthy and adequate amounts of food.
In September the food we collect will go to Thrive.
Thrive exists to partner with communities to provide nutritious meals, academic tutors, and a loving environment for more than 240 youth to come after school and during the summer. Our program partners with communities in five Knoxville areas, serving the city’s most vulnerable youth to provide spiritual, academic, emotional, and physical support to youth. The Main Campus is in the Lonsdale neighborhood, and Thrive recently expanded to include programs in Parkridge, West View, New Hopewell, and Papermill neighborhoods.
Thrive provides a safe, positive, and educational haven for our youth to come after school and during the summer. Students attend at no cost, and spend more than 700 hours annually with qualified and loving mentors, tutors, and leaders. Most students Thrive serves live in food
deserts. Because of their lack of healthy food options, they provide snacks and dinners to their students daily.
Meals provided have been sourced to approximately $1/day compared with the national average of $3.44/day.
All child friendly items are welcome but the following items would be most useful to their meal preparation:
- Spaghetti noodles
- Crushed tomatoes
- Coconut milk
- Enchilada sauce
- Bottled lemon juice
- Bags of rice (basmati only)
- Flour tortillas
- Individual bags of chips
- Boxes of individual granola bars
Let’s work together to fight childhood hunger.