Free The Children Clear Channel Media and Entertainment The General Mills Foundation Team Up
We Scare Hunger Campaign Hopes To Raise 1 Million Pounds of Food For Local Food Banks
New York, NY - October 21, 2013 – Every year, millions of young Americans travel their neighborhoods, trick-or-treating for candy and goodies. Free The Children’s We Scare Hunger campaign, made possible in the U.S. by The General Mills Foundation, and with support from Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, its official U.S. media partner, encourages young people across the country to help those struggling with hunger by collecting goods for their local food pantry on and before Halloween.
The goal of We Scare Hunger is to generate awareness around local hunger-related issues in addition to raising necessary food items for local food banks across the U.S. Throughout the month of October, students, teachers and schools are invited to sign up to receive free program materials and resources at www.freethechildren.com/wescarehunger. As participants in the program, young people organize food drives throughout their schools or communities, and then on the evening of October 31 conclude their efforts on Halloween by trick-or-treating for canned goods and other non-perishable products, in addition to traditional candy. All food is then donated to local food banks.
Clear Channel Communities, the community engagement brand of Clear Channel, will support the U.S. launch of We Scare Hunger nationally on all 850 Clear Channel Media and Entertainment radio stations in 150 markets from October 21 – October 31, 2013 with a series of on-air public service messages. The series of Clear Channel produced spots will aim to mobilize youth, teachers and parents to take action this Halloween in the name of local hunger by asking each audience to collect/hand-out non-perishable foods items in addition to candy. The PSAs encourage listeners to visit www.iheartradio.com/hunger to sign up for We Scare Hunger and gain access to helpful resources and information to support this year’s campaign. Clear Channel’s commitment includes more than $1.2 million in donated air time including digital placement on all Clear Channel station websites.
“Thanks to the hard work of students across the country, as well as our generous partners General Mills Foundation and Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, this Halloween, We Scare Hunger is aiming to provide hundreds of families access to healthy food this year,” said Craig Kielburger, Co-Founder, Free The Children. “Last year, students from more than 1,500 schools across North America collected an estimated 875,000 pounds of food to help combat hunger in their communities. This year, students hope to raise 1 million pounds of food for local food banks.”
“We Scare Hunger empowers youth in a fun and effective way to address a global issue that too often exists right in their own backyards,” said Jessica King, Director of Community Engagement for Clear Channel. “Free The Children is creating the next generation of philanthropists and Clear Channel is pleased to play a role in promoting unique opportunities for kids to give back and help in their own communities.”
“More than one in five children in the U.S. faces hunger,” said Ellen Goldberg Luger, Executive Director, General Mills Foundation. “We Scare Hunger makes it easy to make a difference and fight hunger. It can mean doing something as simple as organizing a food drive or having an ample supply of non-perishable goods by the door to hand out on Halloween to designated trick-or-treaters.”
We Scare Hunger is part of Free The Children’s year-long We Act service learning and action programs, that combines service-based learning with meaningful community service. Designed as a menu of resources available to teachers and students, the We Act program can be used in-class to achieve service learning objectives or as extracurricular activities within student-led clubs. As part of this year’s We Scare Hunger campaign, impact posters, how-to guides and lesson plans have been put together by Free The Children to help educators raise awareness about hunger issues inside the classroom.
For more information or to sign-up visit www.freethechildren.com/wescarehunger
About Free The Children
Free The Children is an international charity and educational partner. Founded in 1995 by international activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children believes in a world where young people are free to achieve their fullest potential, and empowers youth to remove barriers that prevent them from being active local and global citizens. The organization’s domestic programs—which includes We Day, Free The Children’s signature youth empowerment event—educate, engage and empower 1.7 million young people across North America, the UK and around the world to become engaged global citizens. Its international projects have brought more than 650 schools and school rooms to youth and provided clean water and sanitation, health care and food security to one million people around the world, freeing children and their families from the cycle of poverty.
The organization has received the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with leading school boards and Oprah's Angel Network. For more information, visit www.freethechildren.com.
About the General Mills Foundation
The mission of the General Mills Foundation is to nourish communities. Continuing its tradition of generous giving and global community support, General Mills contributed more than $150 million to charitable causes in fiscal year 2013. General Mills invests in and collaborates with community organizations and programs that focus on alleviating hunger and advancing nutrition wellness. In addition, 83 percent of U.S. employees volunteer. To learn more about the ways General Mills nourishes lives through philanthropy and community engagement, please join us on Facebook at Facebook.com/GeneralMillsGives or visit us at GeneralMills.com/en/Responsibility/Community_Engagement.