The Junior League of Cincinnati (JLC), along with Ohio Junior Leagues from Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Stark County and Toledo are working together to address the growing epidemic of hunger and food insecurity through a statewide food drive for the month of March.

Right now, more than 300,000 people in Greater Cincinnati are battling issues related to hunger. Of those, about 100,000 are children who depend on healthy nutritious meals for key brain and physical development. In 2009, the Freestore Foodbank distributed over 7.5 million meals to people in need throughout 20 counties in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. By 2011, that number had jumped to more than 16 million meals, and is still growing due to increasing need in our communities.

Interested members of the community can bring canned goods to the Columbia Center, 3500 Columbia Parkway, during business hours (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays, closed Friday through Saturday) through March 31. In order to address our mission to advocate for healthy lifestyle choices for children, we are asking that donations include healthy items, including:

– Canned chicken and tuna (canned in water not oil)
– Canned fruit (packed only in 100% juice and/or water, not canned in syrup)
– Canned vegetables (low- or no-sodium)
– Dried or canned beans (low- or no-sodium)
– Fruit juice (100% juice, low levels of sugar)
– Pasta (whole wheat)
– Peanut butter (all natural)
– Rice (brown)
– Whole grain cereal

The food drive is taking place in each Ohio Junior League community as part of an ongoing international initiative supported by the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) and its member leagues.

The Junior League of Cincinnati is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

The Junior League of Cincinnati is an exclusively educational, charitable organization which reaches out to women of all races, religions, or national origins who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to voluntarism.