Grocery Outlet will launch its 5th Annual Independence From Hunger® Food Drive on July 1, 2015 to donate food and money throughout July, traditionally a time when food agencies experience the greatest need to serve children who are off from school during the summer.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, 6 out of 7 low-income kids who eat a free or reduced-price school lunch during the academic year do not get a free meal during the summer. 

Enumclaw Grocery Outlet is teaming up with Enumclaw Kiwanis Food Bank, Buckley Kiwanis Food Bank, Plateau Outreach Ministry, and Mom and Me (Mobile Medical Clinic). We will be collecting donations throughout the entire month of July that will go directly to our partners.

“This annual giving campaign is a flagship effort of Grocery Outlet when we encourage our customers and employees to donate food and money to the most needy children in our communities,” said Grocery Outlet Inc. Co-CEO MacGregor Read. “We are so proud to partner with local food assistance agencies and be able to make an impact on a national level during the most dire time of year.”

The USDA also reports that 1 in every 6 Americans is food insecure and 46.5 million Americans (15%) were reported as living at or below the poverty level in 2012 (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S. – Data collected in 2012 and released September, 2013.).