We have a unique canned food drive planned for the summer, a time of year when donations are historically low – a social media campaign designed to encourage everyone to bring at least one can of healthy food to their local food pantry.
The Mountain View Can challenge is simple: from July 22nd– August 2nd, bring a can of food (or several) to your local food pantry and post a photograph or video of yourself doing so on social media. Tag your post with #CanChallenge, #MountainViewCan, and #CSAcares. CSA is especially in need of pop-top meals for those without kitchen access, high protein items, low-sodium canned vegetables, and fruits in their own juices.
When schools are closed for summer, many of the children who normally benefit from the Free and Reduced Lunch Program eat fewer meals. Every summer, 17 out of 20 low-income students fall into the summer nutrition gap. CSA helps to provide for those children as well as filling the gaps for adults, seniors, and homeless individuals in the community year-round.
Simone Berkowitz, organizer of Mountain View Can, is excited to launch the campaign for the second year. “I spoke to many people last year who were not aware that CSA is here to serve the less fortunate members of our community and that we need continuous influxes of food donations and financial resources to do so. Once they became aware, so many of our neighbors (both businesses and individuals) were eager to help out. I hope we have an even bigger outpouring of support from our community this year.”