As Americans brace for the holiday season, they’ll also take a cue to begin collecting canned vegetables and boxes of rice, pasta and stuffing to donate to local food drives. While this is an important annual tradition for the one in seven Americans relying on food banks, it’s a custom overdue for a makeover.
In hopes of replacing those boxes of canned goods with loads of vegetables, fruits and other nutritious items, the charity platform AmpYourGood is teaming up with nutrition education program Veggiecation to raise awareness through An Apple A Day, an online food drive.
Kicking off on Oct. 24, Veggiecation will launch An Apple A Day to collect a group of ingredients needed to prepare simple, plant-based recipes on AmpYourGood’s crowd-feeding platform. The initiative is part of the annual campaign Food Day, which drives awareness for healthy eating and improving food policies.
AmpYourGood’s crowd-feeding platform, similar to crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, encourages users to purchase nutritious food items that are delivered directly to the organization in need. Instead of donating cheap, unhealthy items, Americans can help transform food drives to focus on fresh, nutrition-rich food.
With more than 50,000 food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and other services helping fight food insecurity in the United States, online campaigns like AmpYourGood’s crowd-feeding platform give Americans an opportunity to help the hungry tackle one of the biggest issues they face: access to nutritious food.
As we’ve learned, when a hungry person on food stamps is given the choice to buy an apple over a carb-laden bag of chips, they’ll likely choose the unhealthy snack to satiate their appetite. But if we could start encouraging more online food drives that instantly provide fresh produce and healthy options, we could begin changing the fundamental ways in how we help the hungry.
MORE: Want to Do Something Easy to Help Feed the Hungry this Christmas? Here You Go.