As our food bank and United Way partners have been working hard to meet the increased demand for their services during the pandemic, the additional funds we’ve donated from our 5-cent paper bag charge (select markets), have proven vital. To date, more than $750,000 has been collected from that bag charge. Here are just a few ways our community partners are putting those nickels to work:

• Providing senior citizens free rides to the grocery store and medical appointments, enabling them to live independently in their own homes.
• Delivering 800 meal kits over the course of 16 weeks, along with full recipes and videos, to students in low-income neighborhoods.
• Providing books to more than 4,000 children under age five.
• Supplying 16,200 backpacks of food for school-age children.
• Distributing 10,000+ food boxes to those in need.
• Supporting more parents and children with an additional 90 days of shelter, meals, and care coordinators to help them find longer-term sources of income and stable housing.

We believe communities thrive when we all work together.