Take this opportunity to cultivate compassion and generosity in your children
One in eight children in America lives in households without consistent access to adequate food, according to the School Nutrition Association. This means that every Monday morning these students are hungry, eagerly waiting for their school breakfast after a long weekend or holiday without enough to eat. In Miami-Dade specifically, according to the Miami Herald, the child food insecurity rate is 18.2% higher than the statewide average (15.7%). These percentages speak to the number of children who depend on food provided at their schools’ cafeteria.
With the school winter break coming up, we at Miami Mom Collective partnered with Branches to launch the Holiday Snack Pack Project.
By donating any item on this list, Branches will put together snack packs to give to children facing food insecurity during school breaks in the communities they serve in Miami. Participating is so easy! Just click on this link to see the snack and food options, purchase whatever God puts in your heart, and Amazon will ship it directly to a Branches location. It’s that easy!!
We encourage you to be a part of Miami Mom Collective’s and Branches’ Holiday Snack Pack Project by donating snacks or non-perishables on the list and sharing this link with family and friends. This project will run until December 15th.
Easy ways to involve your children
Parents can help cultivate compassion and generosity in their children’s hearts. The Holiday Snack Pack Project is a beautiful opportunity to do so. Here are some easy ways to involve your children right away:
- Talk to them about the reality of food-insecure children in our own city. Explain that some boys and girls depend only on the cafeteria food they get from school, so while some children are happy about vacation from school, others go hungry. This is key to raising awareness in their hearts and reminding them that there are tangible needs that kids experience, not too far away from our home.
- Invite them to be part of the solution and spread hope by participating with you in the Holiday Snack Pack Project. Have them click on the list, scroll through it, and choose items to donate.
- Explain what Branches will do with the donated snacks and foods. Show them the picture above, so they can see a tangible example of the snack packs that children who are food insecure will receive right before school winter break.
- Encourage them to be thankful for their own food at home, and pray for these children and families in need as they receive their snack packs. Pray that these packs may satisfy their hunger. Pray that God’s grace and the hope of His salvation may reach them and satisfy their spiritual and emotional hunger.
