HARLINGEN – Summer can be a difficult time for children to get access to a nutritious breakfast, and Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen intends to ensure no child goes hungry while out of school.
With its Healthy Over Hungry Cereal Drive benefitting the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, hospital officials encourage the community to drop off donations of whole-grain cereals to the South Tower Lobby through this Friday.
“At Valley Baptist we understand all too well the health issues children face from hunger and poor nutrition,” Manny Vela, CEO of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen and Valley Baptist Health System, stated in a press release. “We recognize the importance of beginning each day with a nutritious breakfast and, through this drive, we hope to help the many in our community struggling with food insecurity.”
Nearly one in two children in Rio Grande Valley live at or below the federal poverty level and have little access to nutritious food when out of school for the summer, according to the press release.
Whole-grain cereal, when part of a healthy breakfast that includes dairy, fruit and lean protein, is a popular food item to help with the hunger gap during the summer months, the release stated.
The Food Bank of the RGV expressed its gratitude to the community and to Valley Baptist Medical Center for this continued food drive.
“Summer is a particularly difficult time for our Food Bank because many children in need don’t have access to a nutritious school breakfast, so their families often turn to us for help,” Ronald Meijerink, CEO of the Food Bank RGV, stated in the release. “Thanks to Valley Baptist and the Healthy Over Hungry Cereal Drive, many families will have a healthy, whole-grain cereal breakfast every summer morning.”
To donate
Whole-grain cereals will be collected through Friday, June 14, at Valley Baptist-Harlingen’s South Tower Lobby, 2101 Pease St.
Financial donations for perishable breakfast items can be made at https://foodbankriogrande.ejoinme.org/cereal2019.
