“Adopt-a-Kid” this summer: Buy lunch.

tomorrow is the 160th day of our 40th anniversary year. Time to reflect on children and families.

Red Deer is above the provincial and national average when it comes to the number of children needing the support of food banks in order to eat.

While on a larger level roughly 33% children rely on emergency food support to eat, locally we are beginning to close in on 40%.

How children are affected by hunger.

Getting enough food is an important first step to ensuring kids can achieve their goals. However, the reality is that 1 in 3 children across Canada don't have enough to eat.

Hunger can affect children's health, development, and well-being. Children who experience food insecurity may have trouble focusing and learning in school. They are at a higher risk of health problems; kids who don't get enough food to eat face higher risks of health conditions like anemia and asthma. Hunger can also change how a child's brain and body grow and affect their thinking, learning, and behavior.

During the school year, many children whose families are dealing with food insecurity will count on school lunch programs to help keep them fueled. With summer approaching and the summer days at home without access to these services, many kids will find it difficult to enjoy their break.

Buy 40 lunches and feed a child this summer.

We counted the work days between July 2 and August 28 — the day before school starts again in Red Deer — and found it to be 40 days. A fitting number for our anniverary year: 40 days, nearly 40 per cent of our clients under 18 years of age, and it’s our 40th anniversary.

In an effort to stock more food into our emergency food hampers, particularly for our youngest clients, we are asking those with the means to donate $200 - enough to buy food to feed a child 40 lunches. Because we can leverage our buying capacity, a donation like this can go a long way to provide food for families this summer.

After the bell.

At the same time that the Red Deer Food Bank is requesting cash donations to help feed kids this summer, we are also working with Food Banks Canada to implement their After the Bell program. This program is dedicated to ending child hunger. With school nutrition programs ending for the summer months, After the Bell aims to fill that gap.

We will receive hundreds of healthy food packs from Food Banks Canada to help feed neighbours in need in Red Deer. These nutritious food packs typically contain milk boxes, granola bars and other kid-friendly items, which the Red Deer Food Bank then supplements with fresh fruit and other healthy food items that kids enjoy.

This is the 10th year that Food Banks Canada has provided this program. In 2015, 700 healthy food packs were distributed in seven communities across the country as a pilot project. This year, their goal is to send out 200,000 food packs to 215 communities in Canada.

Making it last.

It is a particularly stringent time at the Red Deer Food Bank. Summer months are always lean, and it’s been as difficult this year as ever in our 40-year history. The peak ‘giving season’ is still nearly 6 months away, and we are stretching every penny as much as we can just to get there. If we are going to be successful in feeding families in need this summer and well into the school year, we need your support.

A $200 donation will help us to feed one child for 40 days. Please donate if you can.