Spring is a generally lousy time for food-bank donations. Once Easter is over, food drives tends to dwindle.
But through April 30, you can help Orlando win $1 million to fight hunger simply by voting online.
Feeding America — a national chain of nonprofit food banks — has teamed up with Walmart, the charitable Walmart Foundation and four of the nation’s largest food companies (General Mills, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods and Kellogg Company) for a campaign called Fighting Hunger Together. The effort will provide more than 42 million meals to families across the country via Feeding America and Action for Healthy Kids.
There are two ways you can get involved:
- Vote on the Walmart Facebook pageby clicking on the “Fighting Hunger Together” icon and choosing Orlando-Kissimmee — one of 200 metropolitan areas hardest hit by unemployment. On May 1, the city with the most votes will win$1 million, and the 20 runner-up cities will win $50,000 each. You can vote once each day through April 30. Note that you have to agree to the site’s privacy terms, which means you’re sharing your basic Facebook information with the site.
- If you shop at Walmart and buy food made by one of the participating companies (again: General Mills, ConAgra, Kraft and Kellogg’s), the company will donate additional meals to our local food banks — although there are some extra steps involved on your part. In-store signs will help direct you to eligible products and on-package labels will explain how to enter product codes online, share a hashtag on Twitter or scan a QR code to trigger the company’s donation.
It’s also worth noting that, if you want to do your own thing, you can donate to or volunteer for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, the local Feeding America affiliate, which collects and distributes food to more than 500 nonprofit partner agencies in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties.
