Peanut butter needed to feed the hungry

“The peanut butter collected at each site is so appreciated as protein items are always in high demand at our member food pantries,” said Foodbank CEO Michelle Riley. “With over 130,000 people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, I am grateful for the support every organization is providing through the Peanut Butter and Justice food drive.”

The project came about after a group of legal professionals watched and discussed a documentary entitled “American Winter” that dealt with the impact the economic crisis had on American families. Eager to help, the group decided to organize a food drive calling it “Bar Hunger:Peanut Butter and Justice Challenge.”

The letter that went out to area Bar members from Magistrate Bonnie Beaman Rice documented the need in our community and urged lawyers and law films to “step up to the plate” and participate in the solution.

“A 2013 Food Research and Action Center report ranks the city of Dayton as the ninth ‘hungriest’ city in America,” Rice reported. “This is not a reference to our appetite for the arts, great basketball or innovative ideas. No, this is the hollow, pit-of-your-stomach hunger pains that come from having too little to eat.”

Rice suggested that members bring at least one jar of peanut butter to every Bar event and —on behalf of the sponsoring Bar Association and Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project—proposed that lawyers also enlist the help of faith-based organizations, clubs, clients. The response, says Rice, has been terrific. Those jumping on the peanut butter bandwagon have ranged from synagogues, mosques and churches to local businesses, non-profit organizations, colleges and city offices.

Among those who’ve outdone themselves are the folks at Coolidge Wall Co, LPA, who collected 600 pounds of peanut butter and $500 in donations in just 12 days!

WHY PEANUT BUTTER?

Rice said peanut butter was selected for the drive because it’s packed with nutrition and is kid-friendly. Of those in the Dayton area who suffer from “food insecurity,” 39,390 are children.

WHAT THEY NEED:

By now, you’ve figured out exactly how to help. Just take jars of peanut butter to one of these listed locations. If you know a Dayton lawyer or have connections to a particular law office, you might also check to see if they are participating and can deliver your donations at an upcoming meeting, The project will run through the end of May.

Public drop-off sites include:

If you’d like to make a monetary donation, send it to Dayton Bar Association, Performing Arts Center, 109 N. Main St. #600. Dayton, OH, 45402.

As Rice concluded in her solicitation letter to the lawyers: “That’s it in a nutshell!”