We are fortunate to have so many great restaurant options throughout the foothills region. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Mexican, Italian, Indian, burgers or barbecue.

Coffee, smoothies or tea. You name it – you got it.

And, on the other hand, some of us choose to shop at one of the many great markets, cook our favorite dishes at home, and bring our lunches to work or school. 

But for about 17,000 school children in our community, unbelievably, food is not always a given. The diverse options many of us enjoy are sim ply not available to these young, active minds and bodies. Not only is eating out - even at a fast food joint - a rare special treat, but food is often scarce at home, too.

So, what if you could feed one of these kids by giving up just one meal? Would you do it? I hope that all of us would answer, “of course.” And I hope that you will.

Bagging Childhood Hunger is an effort to feed more hungry children in our community. In short, it’s a chance to give up your lunch for just one day, and to donate the amount you would have spent. Every contribution will help feed another child through United Way’s Kids Pack program.

Kids Pack delivers a backpack of food every weekend to 1,200 local homeless and very lowincome students to ensure they are fed and arrive to school ready to learn each Monday morning. We know that a hungry child can’t learn. By feeding hungry kids, we increase academic achievement and their prospects for a brighter future. It’s that simple.

To help more kids this coming school year and reach our goal of delivering Kids Pack to 1,500 students weekly, we need individuals, companies and churches to join us. hope you and your friends or coworkers would consider giving up lunch for day – or a week – to feed local child.

As we like to say, we’re feeding our future. I hope you’ll join us in Bagging Childhood Hunger. Learn more at www.IEUW.org/ Events.