Girl Scouts who participated in last December’s launch of online grocer Peapod’s Kids Give Back program have used their newfound nutritional knowledge to donate food to Main Street Food Pantry, which is operated by Fortville First United Methodist Church. The Girl Scouts placed a $200 grocery order – donated by Peapod and handpicked by the girls on Peapod.com – to be delivered to the food pantry of the troops’ choosing. In total, six food pantries will benefit via the full $1,600 contribution from Peapod.
The Kids Give Back program teaches students about how many people in the local area don’t have access to healthy food on a daily basis. It also includes lessons on what people need in their diets, cove
ring the basics a to give students a perspective on what to look for when they shop for food. Armed with that information, the students go online to Peapod.com, and place a food order funded by Peapod that benefits a local food pantry.
“In Indiana, about 20% of school-age girls are living in poverty,” said Deborah Hearn Smith, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. “Girls need their basic needs covered before they can excel in academics. And Girl Scouts cannot complete our mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place when girls’ basic needs aren’t being met – when girls are hungry. We are extremely grateful to Peapod for helping teach Girl Scouts about basic nutrition and for working with our girls to make this donation to Main Street Food Pantry.”
As an added benefit, at the launch of the Kids Give Back program Peapod made an additional matching donation to Girl Scouts of Central Indiana for a total contribution of $3,200. Eight Kids Give Back programs in the Indianapolis area are underway, all benefiting local food pantries.
