Jamie and I recently attended Blissdom, a blogging conference in Nashville.  While there we made a great connection with ConAgra Foods.  ConAgra felt that our message of balanced couponing and becoming a purposeful giver resonated with so many people.  After all, successful couponing doesn’t have to come at the expense of our lives.  The goal is to bring financial relief to our family’s finances.  Then, out of our new found abundance, we have the privilege to give into the lives of others!

When we got home, ConAgra invited me to be a Blogger Ambassador for their Child Hunger Ends Here Campaign!  (SO excited!!  Can’t even tell you what a surprise)  I boarded a plan the next week for a trip to Los Angeles for the kickoff of the Child Hunger Ends Here Campaign.  It was an amazing experience, I’m proud to be a part of this program.  When a brand steps up, like ConAgra to use it’s influence to maker a difference (to the tune of providing the equivalent of 3 million meals to hungry children) I for one take notice. 

In case you missed our first post about Child Hunger Ends Here jump over here – we’ve provided links to videos with more information.

Love these girls!!!   Piera (Jolly Mommy), me (Time 2 $ave), Linsey (Lille Punkin’ Reviews) & Rachel (A Southern Fairytale) at the LA Food Regional Food Bank.

To kick off the campaign we toured the facilities at the LA Regional Food bank.  We had the incredible opportunity to meet and interview singer/songwriter Jewel. 

My favorite event of the day was helping stuff backpacks full of food.  These backpacks are given to school aged children who otherwise may not eat over the weekend.  It’s hard to imagine…many children would go hungry on the weekends if they weren’t provided backpacks.

Here’s the girls and I stuffing backpacks.  Every tub had two backpacks that we stuffed so full they would hardly zip.  These girls were so much fun to hang out with, I was so sad our time together didn’t last longer. 

Jewel was a trooper – she jumped in and helped us after her interviews.

If you haven’t heard her personal story you’ll be shocked to hear she was once homeless.  You can hear her story here.  Jewel grew up poor, and has faced the same food insecurities that 1 in 5 American children face today. 

What can you do?  Buy a participating brand product and enter your code online.  ConAgra will donate a meal each time a code is entered! 

Once you enter your code, you’ll get to download the song “Here’s Hope” each time you enter a code from a participating ConAgra product. To hear the “Here’s Hope” song and to learn more about how to become involved in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, you can visit their website.

“Here’s Hope” performed by Jewel, Owl City or Jay Sean – your choice! The more codes that you redeem, the more exclusive content you’ll be able to access.

Child Hunger Did You Know??

• According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity or the inability to access
  enough food to live active, healthy lives affects more than 16 million children in the United
  States.
• By comparison, the number of kids who struggle with hunger every year is the same as the total populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston combined.
• Children don’t need to be starving or homeless to struggle with hunger. Many children are
  simply missing a meal or not eating on a regular basis.

Follow the discussion on facebook at www.facebook.com/ConAgraFoods, or  www.twitter.com/ConAgraFoods on twitter.  Use the hashtag #ChildHunger.