September is Hunger Action Month. You probably know someone who suffers from hunger. Nearly 17 percent of those living in northern Indiana do not know where they will find their next meal. One in four children in this area go to bed hungry each night. These statistics include family, friends, co-workers and neighbors.
The goal of the Fighting Irish Fighting Hunger food drive, held at Notre Dame in September, is to ease that need. Funds collected go to area food pantries to help stock their shelves and to the local food bank to send backpacks of food home with hungry kids over the weekend.
This year’s drive will be held Monday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, Sept. 29. While collection boxes will be placed in some buildings around campus, the main focus of the drive is monetary. Every dollar donated generates seven or eight meals for those in need. As in the past, donations are split between the United Way coalition of food pantries: People Gotta Eat and the Food Bank of Northern Indiana.
Go to FightingHunger.nd.edu to find:
- A link to the online donation sites for People Gotta Eat and the Food Bank of Northern Indiana.
- A list of department and building representatives if you wish to donate by check.
- A list of the barrel sites on campus if you wish to donate food items.
This will be the 10th annual drive. Over the past nine years, more than $200,000 and 14,500 pounds of food have been collected. The generosity of the campus community has a tremendous impact on the lives of those in the community.