Twin Cities Businesses Help To 'Scare Hunger'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Kids will be trick or treating for more than just candy on Halloween this week.
Many will be collecting non-perishable food items for "We Scare Hunger" -- a drive to help fill food banks sponsored by Free the Children. But some adults are getting a head start.
The doctor's office can be a scary place, but Entira Family Clinics are helping to scare away hunger.
"We have been collecting food," said Entira's Lori Grundhofer. "Lots of food."
What started as a bag of donations a few years back has grown into a company-wide competition.
"Everybody likes the competition and everybody wants to win," said Entira's Kathy Kroger.
That competition has yielded almost 6,000 pounds of food.
"It was really an eye-opener finding out how much need there is in each community," Kroger said.
One in six children are at risk of hunger, and Minnesota families miss 100 million meals every year.
These are numbers Katie Brettingen with the White Bear Lake Emergency Food Shelf faces on a daily basis.
"On average I'd say we distribute 30,000 - 35,000 pounds of food a month," Brettingen said. "There's food shelves in every city, and there's lots of food shelves that you would never think there would be a spot for them."
Whether it's homelessness or losing a job, food shelves are there when families need them.
"Donations are our life blood," Brettingen said.
It might be a good idea to have a few cans of food out Friday night with the bucket of candy. Many kids will be collecting donations as part of We Scare Hunger.
This year they're hoping to collect 200,000 pounds worth of donations.
It is one of the ways students can earn a ticket to We Day Minnesota, which is one of 14 events across North America as part of We Day and We Act.
The Nov. 12 event will host concerts and inspirational speakers, featuring The Band Perry, Magic Johnson and several others.
The only way students can get a ticket is by giving back. Click here for more information.