Donating Healthy Snacks for Kids: Our #Dole4Kids Project

I was able to shop for and donate healthy snacks for kids as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias.  All thoughts and words are my own.

Last month I had the opportunity to share with you ways that you could give back in your community.  This month I have another new way for you to get involved!  You can join myself – and many others – in purchasing healthy snacks for kids in the Dole Champions for Kids August project.

The number of people that go hungry in the United States every day is sad and, for many, startling.  Considering that the US has always been looked at as the land of plenty, you just don’t expect it.  But as kids return to school this month, many of them will be worrying not about having the right notebook, but about whether or not they will have enough to eat to get them through the day.

Here’s where you can help!  There are four easy steps to guide you through participating.

Step One: Gather

First, collect your own donations.  Bubbles and I gathered our snacks for kids while shopping at Walmart.  Dole has a number of yummy fruit snacks that are both healthy and appealing to kids, so we made that our focus.  We picked up a few packs of Dole Fruit Bowls as well as some of the new Dole Squish’ems.  Bubbles has always loved fruit and veggie pouches, so I figured these new offerings from Dole would be a hit.  Oh, and be on the lookout for coupons!  There recently were some for both Dole Fruit Bowls and Squish’ems and using them can help you stretch your donation dollars.

I also asked friends and family to donate, either by dropping off donations with us, or making their own donation.  You can certainly do this, too.  A quick Facebook posting or email can bring in a few extra snacks.

Step Two: Count

We were able to purchase nine packages of Dole Fruit Bowls as well as six boxes of Dole Squish’ems.  We took pictures both at the store as well as once we returned home to document our donation.  You’ll want this information for a later step.  If your friends dropped off donations, don’t forget to count those, too.

Step Three: Donate

Choose where you think your donation may have the largest impact.  If I were still living in Maine, I would probably have asked my friend that is now a school guidance councellor but previously was a social worker.  I’m sure she could have seen that our kids snacks were delivered to the right place.  Or I may have given them to my sister-in-law who is teaching first grade this year; she would have been able to make sure any kids who didn’t come with enough lunch had something to eat.  Instead, though, I chose to donate to our local food bank, Dare to Care.  The actual food bank truck comes a couple of times per month, but they also have a donation station in one of our local stores.  As we missed donating at the truck this week Bubbles and I went to the Dare to Care donation bin to leave our items.

Step Four: Double

Head over to the Champions for Kids website and report your donation through a simple form (above).  For the entire month of August 2013, Dole® will make a matching donation of up to 1,000 Dole Fruit Squish’ems through Champions for Kids to help children in need.  What an easy way to increase the impact of your donation.

What healthy snacks for kids could you donate?  Where would you make your donation?