What is your kid doing this summer? Iker is waking up at 5 am to stand in line for food. The 9-year-old lives with his grandmother, 10-year-old sister, and 11-year-old brother. During the summer, they wake up early to go to the community center, where they receive food to last them the day. “I’m a kid. I do not feel like a kid because I have a lot of responsibilities at home.”
When Iker isn’t at school, he helps out around the house, cleaning, and cooking with his grandmother. Unlike a lot of kids, summer is not Iker’s favorite time of the year. He misses school – the classes, teachers, and his friends – but he also knows that summer means no free breakfast and lunch, which he normally eats in school. “I do worry sometimes,” he admits. “I want my family to have food in their tummies. When you skip a meal, your stomach starts hurting.”
Iker isn’t the only child placed in a more precarious situation in the summer. Kids facing food insecurity don’t have the luxury of just enjoying time off school…they have to worry about whether or not they will have enough to eat. For families whose budgets are already stretched thin during the school year, they have to figure out how to make their budget stretch even further to provide the two meals that their kids normally receive at school. COVID-19 has only increased the number of people fighting to make ends meet and keep their children fed. At the same time, with the majority of food and monetary donations coming in during the winter holiday season, summer is a critical time for Utah Food Bank.
Because businesses don’t take a summer break, our Summer Business Food & Fund Drive encourages local businesses to help by hosting a Summer Business Food & Fund Drive! Whether you’re back in the office or still working from home, it’s the perfect opportunity to do some good and rally your business around a common cause! There are options for a Virtual Food Drive, traditional food drive, or even a combination of both! Registering is easy, and we provide all the tools you’ll need for whichever type of food or fund drive you choose to do.
Get started here!
