We need you to ‘Fill the Fridge’

This will be the 25th Food Drive, conducted by the Spokane Association of REALTORS® — and, yes, Spokane still has its hungry citizens.

Working to help the hungry, the Spokane Association of REALTORS® will be available to accept nonperishable donations at all area Albertson’s stores from 1-7 p.m. Sept. 6-7 in conjunction with Albertson’s Food and Drug.

You can help “Fill the Fridge” by donating to the food barrels available at all Spokane area Albertson’s stores during the drive. Second Harvest Inland Northwest, which has been feeding hope since 1972, has found that nothing much has changed for our neighbors who are hungry. And, for families and senior citizens with very limited resources, that is not good news.

The statistics from their 20th annual client survey reveal some important findings:

•Nearly half (42 percent), of emergency food clients, are children 18 years old and under.

•11 percent of clients are seniors, age 55 and older.

•Average size of an emergency food client household is three.

•Single parents head 24 percent of households; of those, 90 percent are single mothers.

•59 percent of clients have lived in Spokane County for more than 10 years.

•97 percent of clients are very low income, earning less that 50 percent of the median.

•Family income in Spokane County ($2,046 per month or less) for a family of three.

•66 percent of client households report income below the federal poverty level.

•59 percent of the wage earners worked sometime during the last year.

•54 percent of parents have gone without food so their children could eat.

•53 percent of people in households without children go without food when they run low on groceries. Of those, 28 percent skipped meals every day.

Give what you can give. It all adds up. Second Harvest can buy 6 pounds of food for every $1 donated. Let’s help “Fill the Fridge.”

There is another way to help as well; Aaron’s Sales and Lease Ownership has donated a refrigerator. You can stop by any of the three Aaron’s locations and enter the drawing for a chance to win this refrigerator and donate money and/or food in the Second Harvest food barrels. All it takes is to drop some food into the container and you will have a chance to take the refrigerator home.

And while you are at Albertson’s, you can make a $1 donation to purchase a Root Beer Float while shopping at any of the stores. That $1 will be donated to Second Harvest.