Help battle food insecurity

For many, the summer time means having fun in the sun. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many of the children in our community who depend on free and reduced meals during the school year. For them, the summer time means they must deal with food insecurity: not knowing where their next meal will be coming from.

At United Way of Greater Mercer County, we recognize that there is a need in the community when it comes to the issue of summer hunger. To combat this issue, we hosted our fourth annual Strike Out Hunger, where members of the community and local corporations packed 180,288 meals to be distributed to food pantries in our community. It was exciting to see event participants come together and join us to make an impact on the over 20,000 food insecure children living in our county.

The Strike Out Hunger event is over, but the need still exists. Consider filling up a grocery bag with nonperishable food items or host a food drive at your place of business to stock some of the empty shelves at your local food pantry.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about free summer meal sites in your community please go to: https:// www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks. There is still a month left of summer, and you can make a difference or benefit from the services that exist in your community. If you would like to learn more about our summer hunger initiative, please call us at 609896-1912 or go to www.uwgmc.org. — Cheri Hennessy Durst, United

Way of Greater Mercer County