ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Shop Out Hunger Day, Aug. 17, is Operation Food Search’s largest annual food drive. That event allows you to help fellow community members combat food insecurity.
Operation Food Search President and CEO Kristen Wild showed 5 On Your Side a grocery cart full of items they would like donated on Shop Out Hunger Day. It comes at a time when Operation Food Search officials say donations are down nearly 25% due to rising food costs and inflation.
Wild said, “We will have volunteers stationed at every Dierbergs, Schnucks, and Straub’s stores in the region, and people will be able to make purchases when they're doing their regular shopping and donate nonperishable goods to Operation Food Search.
In June, Operation Food Search won a $10,000 TEGNA Foundation grant. Wild said the $10,000 grant awarded by the TEGNA Foundation in June is going to good use.
“For every dollar donated, we're able to leverage that with our partners to provide about $10 worth of immediate assistance,” she said. “So really, that $10,000 grant, you multiply that by 10. We have $100,000, and that's the value that the grant provides to us.”
While she spoke to 5 On Your Side, a group of volunteers from Schnucks worked in another part of their facility, sorting products and stocking items on wooden pallets.
Volunteers are part of the Operation Food Search donation equation.
“Every year we have over 7,000 volunteers help us out,” Wild said. “The monetary value to Operation Food Search is generally over a million dollars a year. We're able to divert that money and put it right back into our programs so that we can provide help to more people in the region.”
On Aug. 17, Operation Food Search volunteers are needed to package information, not product.
Wild said, “Our volunteers will be standing outside a grocery store Schnucks, Dierbergs or Straub’s, and they will pass out flyers of most needed nonperishable items.”
Shop Out Hunger Day donations will help re-stock the shelves in 200 community food partner agencies.
Most requested food items:
- Light tuna and Salmon (canned and pouches).
- Canned chicken soup, chili and stews with meat/beans (a meal in a can).
- Canned fruit (in natural juices).
- Diced tomatoes, tomato paste, canned spaghetti sauces (low sodium appreciated).
- Canned beans (low sodium appreciated).
- Instant brown rice and whole wheat pasta.
- Boxed meal kits.
- Canned vegetables.
- Dried spices: chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano and basil.
- Deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
- Pop-top canned items.