(HELENA) Helena and East Helena residents can help support local children in need this week, all from their own doorsteps.
Helena Food Share is holding its fifth annual Doorsteps to Kid Packs Food Drive on Wednesday. They are asking people living in city limits to leave non-perishable, “kid-friendly” food by their doors. AmeriCorps volunteers will go around the city to help collect the donations.
The donations will be used for Kid Packs, which provide two meals each weekend for students who might otherwise go hungry. Food Share currently provides around 1,100 Kid Packs each week of the school year, to children at schools across the Helena and East Helena School Districts. Leaders estimate one in five children in the Helena area struggle with hunger.
Last year, this drive collected around 10,000 pounds of food.
“This is really important, to help us collect enough food and funds to finish up the Kid Pack program for the year,” said Helena Food Share executive director Bruce Day.
Food Share is looking for items like applesauce and other fruit cups, low-sugar granola bars, juice boxes and oatmeal.
This food drive has been a partnership between Food Share and AmeriCorps. Day said, without the help from AmeriCorps members in Helena for the annual ServeMontana Symposium, it wouldn’t be possible.
This year, Day was concerned weather might interfere with the food drive, but he’s currently hopeful it will go forward without interruption. However, if your donations are not collected, he said you can bring them to the Food Share pantry at 1616 Lewis Street.
Local grocery stores will also be collecting items for the drive from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday. Additionally, Helena Food Share is accepting financial contributions for the Kid Pack program.
“We’re grateful for anything anyone can do,” said Day.
You can find more information about the Doorsteps to Kid Packs drive and about the Kid Pack program at Helena Food Share’s website.
