Mary Ann has been a dedicated volunteer helping us with our Healthy HIP Packs and Summer Meals Programs. We asked her to share her experience of volunteering at HIP and she wrote this piece for us. You can see her pictured below helping us with Summer Meals food preparation.

I don’t recall when I first learned that there were children in our own backyard who were going hungry over the weekend when school meals were not available. My first thought was “how can a child possibly learn when they’re hungry or worried about when they’ll eat next”?

When I found out about the Hunger Intervention Program and read about their work, in particular the Healthy HIP Pack Program, I knew I wanted to be involved. I believe that this program makes a difference not only in the lives of the kids it helps, but also their families.  It lets them know that their community is aware that people sometimes struggle meeting even the most basic needs and we want to help.

I want to be a part of the solution to our hunger problems and volunteering with Hunger Intervention Program gives me that opportunity. Thank you Hunger Intervention Program for recognizing this need long before I was aware there was a need. And thank you for letting me be a part of a program where I can help improves lives.