10 Ways to be #HungryForChange during Winter 2021
1. Create greeting cards to go into meal packs.
For my MO & KS friends, Harvesters makes this super easy with fun food-oriented coloring pages. As of November 2021, Harvesters includes the cards in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) boxes for senior citizens. For every 10 cards, volunteers can receive 1 hour of service up to 8 hours per month. This would be a great activity to keep kiddos busy or to do with a classroom! I have a stack of the coloring pages near my desk for when I get anxious or have free time - it gives me something relaxing to do that makes an impact for someone else. To get involved in Kansas and Missouri with Harvesters The Community Food Network’s greeting card efforts, click here.
2. Host an in-person or virtual food/fund drive for your local food pantry or food bank.
Don’t underestimate the impact of monetary donations, as food pantries and food banks have ‘purchasing power’ that can stretch $1 or $10 to greater use. With Harvesters, every $1 donated equals 3 meals - they have a nifty food & fund drive toolkit with additional resources here.
Several food pantries have created virtual food drive sites that allow for customization to your group or collaboration with fundraisers like walk-a-thons or donation drives, and other opportunities for ‘virtual’ volunteering like writing thank you notes, calling donors, or working text/call lines.
*When hosting a food drive, be sure to educate your participants about the best types of foods and items to donate. Many individuals that utilize food pantries may not have access to a stove, a can opener, a blender, etc., and when they’re given something that required a can opener, for example, they simply cannot consume the canned good.
Here is an article from Feeding America about how to volunteer at a food pantry during the holidays.
3. Give gifts that give back!
This is MY FAVORITE because who doesn’t love shopping for gifts during the holiday season?! ;-) There are a few ways that you can do this:
Shop local! Each dollar that you spend in a community stays in that community. Look at boutiques, small businesses, local creatives, etc., as go-to for your holiday shopping!
Purchase items from companies and brands that give back and donate a portion of proceeds.
CHARLIE HUSTLE - They have the cutest Communi-Tee partner t-shirt supporting Harvesters! I have this shirt ($32 in medium, could’ve got a small!) and it’s super cute, sparks conversation, and makes an impact. From July to December, a portion of sales will benefit food security efforts in Kansas and Missouri. Good food, good mood!!
HALF UNITED - Fighting Hunger Bullet Necklace ($34) is designed to serve as a “symbol of your peaceful protest in the fight against global hunger” and comes in gold or silver.
FEED — Artisan Beaded Feed bag (50%!!).
This is a FEED classic bag and I cried when I got it for Christmas a few years ago when I returned home from Kenya. Each bag provides 185 (ONE HUNDRED & EIGHTY FIVE!) school meals, enough to feed one child in school for one whole year. It’s beautiful, high quality, designer-inspired, and handmade by artisans in Kenya.
4. Adopt a family this holiday season with a healthy family meal kit or through Holiday boxes.
When I was on the executive board for Tiger Pantry, the University of Missouri’s food pantry for students, staff, and faculty, we started offering meal kits and curated collections of food items to users as a way to better provide complete meal offerings. With a large clientele of international students and graduate students with families, this helped to make it easier to use new products that students may have been unfamiliar with.
Harvesters currently has a volunteer opportunity that often follows a food or fund drive (#2 on this list!) to pack healthy family meal kits. What I like about this is that it can sometimes be overwhelming to see a most-needed list for a pantry or to organize a drive when there are SO MANY options of items possible to donate if you take a trip to the grocery store. This eliminates the ‘decision fatigue’ and reduces a barrier for people to get involved — they provide the list of 5-10 items that make a healthy family meal and you purchase those items and bag them into a decorated pack for a family. Here is the current Family Pack at Harvesters: BBQ Chicken Burrito Bowls. (Yum!!)
For the holiday season, Harvesters has “Holiday Boxes” and even has created a game called ‘Harvey’s Holiday Box Hunt’ to get the entire family involved. For each Holiday Box, you donate/collect items like green beans, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy for families to have a holiday meal. I’m going to do the 12 days of activities to talk to children about hunger this December! Use #HarveysHolidayBoxHunt if you participate and share it with me so I can see :-)
5. Donate extra household products!
This is so easy to do, even if you’re on a budget yourself. You could grab 3 toilet paper rolls from your 36 pack each month and save them to be donated to your local pantry. Items like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, loofahs, and lotions are items that can improve an individual’s wellbeing and health — when you look better, you feel better!
Another easy item to donate that is often forgotten about is feminine hygiene products. Period poverty is an unfortunate reality and I’ve heard stories upon stories of women that could not afford proper products to be sanitary, safe, and healthy each month. The cost of pads and tampons hurts low-income girls most, and most every family in poverty is also experiencing food insecurity.
Use a coupon, buy extra, and donate household goods.
If you’re a frequent traveler this time of year and stay at hotels, take the toiletries provided that you do not use and donate them to your local pantry or homeless shelter. If you subscribe to a beauty subscription box and get an item you wouldn’t use but that would benefit someone else, donate it!
6. Sign up to ring bells for the Salvation Army.
Each year The Salvation Army serves more than 25 million people nationwide, providing 55+ million meals for the hungry, 10+ million nights of shelter for the homeless, and countless Christmas gifts for children, according to their website. You’ve likely seen bell ringers at your local grocery or department store around the holidays, but the best part about donating through the ‘red kettles’ is that the money stays local - it impacts those in your community.
Bell ringing is SO EASY and FUN!! I’ve bell rang since middle school with student groups and organizations, and find myself coming back year after year to stand outside my hometown Walmart. You sign up for a date, time, and location that’s convenient for you, and you sign up for a minimum of 2 hours. Register to ring here!
7. Donate at your local food pantry, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or otherwise in your community.
This is a pic of me when I was serving at the Houston Food Bank in Houston, TX, as a site leader for a Mizzou Alternative Spring Break trip on food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty. Service makes me a HAPPY gal!!
This list could go on and on, so I’ve curated some based on location to get you started based on the six food banks in the Feeding Missouri coalition:
(Columbia, MO): The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri
Volunteer shifts at The Food Bank - sorting donations, repacking and labeling food, assembling boxes of food.
Volunteer shifts at Central Pantry - sorting through donations, supporting distribution, cleaning, etc.
For both of these, most shifts are 2 hours long from 8:30/9:30 AM until 5/7:30 PM. They ALWAYS need volunteers - find a slot that works for you, sign up, and go!
On December 15th, The Food Bank and Zimmer Radio Group are doing a 12-hour drive to raise foods and funds called “One for One” Holiday Food & Fund Drive. It’ll be at Columbia Mall and at Orscheln Farm & Home in Jefferson City!
(Springfield, MO): Ozarks Food Harvest
3-hour Sort & Pack sessions at the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief (M-F 9am-12; M-Th 1-4)
Garden and gleaning opportunities! (I’m going to do this!!)
(Sikeston, MO): SEMO Food Bank
Opportunities to volunteer with: senior food box packing, food drive sorting & packing, warehouse produce gleaning, administrative support, and at special events!
Purchase Holiday Tribute Cards (each card at $25 provides 100 meals to families facing hunger!) to honor people on your holiday list.
(Kansas City, MO & KANSAS): Harvesters Community Food Network
Lots of options, including “off site” or “at home” volunteering with decorated donation bags, handmade greetings (#1 on this list), holiday boxes (#9), and helping at mobile food pantries. Register here!
(St. Louis, MO): St. Louis Area Foodbank
LOTS of options on their website, including a holiday drive and engagements at different STL-area holiday events!
(St. Joseph, MO & KANSAS): Second Harvest Community Food Bank
Looking for administrative assistants, fundraisers, and interns!
Volunteer opportunities include packing senior boxes and food rescue sorting.
In short, any food bank, food pantry, or food distribution site in your community needs help this time of year. Do a quick Google search on “food pantry volunteering X LOCATION” or register for specific volunteer shifts using the links above.
P.S. because of the increased interest by volunteers this time of year, it can be really overwhelming for local and regional food pantries. Look on their website for information before sending an additional email or making that phone call, and reference the information provided when signing up for specific events/activities/shifts. Oftentimes, all the information you need is there! Happy to help answer any questions you may have.
8. Volunteer at a community Thanksgiving or holiday dinner event.
My hometown of Eldon has a community Thanksgiving dinner and always needs volunteers to serve, cook, and interact with attendees. A few years ago, my best friend and I volunteered in the pie room and were able to interact with hundreds of families on Thanksgiving morning.
Most communities have events like this - many sponsored by local volunteer or civic organizations, faith-based groups, and/or the Chamber of Commerce - that are open to volunteers. Check your local newspaper for events or Google search “[location] community Thanksgiving dinner” to get plugged into volunteering!
9.(Last but not least!) Be kind and remember that the holidays do not look or feel the same for everyone.
A festive meal and fun memories are not certain around the holidays, and the holiday season can illicit an array of feelings and emotions - grieving loved ones, facing financial difficulties, navigating sticky family situations… all amplified by the ongoing pandemic and struggles many are still facing. Many families face a huge economic burden during the holidays — gifts, meals, hosting events/parties/gatherings - and that stress can be a lot to handle.
There are many “shoulds” about how families and holidays should be, and the reality is that more often than not, this is far from the truth, especially when food insecurity and poverty are on the brain. Sharing a resource from the National Alliance on Mental Illness on navigating holiday emotions that might be of use!
Hunger does not take a holiday!! Share a smile, put an extra dose of ‘be kind’ in your hot cocoa, and remember that we’re all only human and just trying our best <3
10. Bonus!!
#10 is a “free space” to do what feels best within your means this time of year. Some of the options above require spending money to accomplish, others require giving of your time. Being Hungry For Change does not look the same for everyone - the core of the initiative is that each person does something. and if that’s just sharing this blog so others can be inspired to do something, or if it’s donating $10 to support a food bank that serves your hometown, being Hungry For Change starts with you.