One School, One Business, One Church

One school, one business, and one church each month feed the hungry through item-specific donation drives in support of FoodNet Food Bank.

In 2019, FoodNet Food Bank ceased being a stand-alone non-profit and became one of Catholic Charities of Acadiana’s programs. FoodNet distributes 3,000 supplemental food bags each month to partner pantries that give directly to individuals and families in need. Ensuring that these supplemental food bags contain adequate, nutritious, well-balanced, non-perishable food comes at a cost of around $5,000 per week to our organization.

At the beginning of 2023, we knew we needed to do a better job of connecting our generous community with this real need for food in Acadiana. We made it our goal to engage at least one school, one business, and one church each month with item-specific food drives. We have been blown away by the response!

In April, Martin Petitjean Elementary students, staff, and families participated in the 1/1/1 Campaign with a grade-based competition. As a Leader in Me school, MPE first through third grade little leaders engage in service learning projects throughout the school year. A student voted to host a food drive, and this opportunity was the perfect match for them!

We created a grade-level competition (a true win-win!) for students, staff, and families to bring in donated items,” said principal Dr. Kim Cummins. “Our students felt so proud walking in with bags of food to donate to the drive. They were very excited to present the food to me each morning as they came in off the bus or from their car. Some families pulled in and requested a cart to help bring in all the food they were donating! We hosted our annual 7 Habits Family Fun Night on April 5, and families who attended brought in even more food! The bins were truly overflowing. This was a great way for the MPE community to come together for a great cause. Catholic Charities of Acadiana made the process so easy by providing the bins, signage, and a playbook for us to follow. Thanks to their organization and support, this drive was effortless! Our students felt so good being a part of this amazing service-learning opportunity. We plan to participate again!

Crossroads Church in Lafayette took over July with a peanut butter and jelly drive. Outreach pastor Robin Price, shares about their experience:

At Crossroads, we are passionate about engaging with our community and partnering with local non-profits that are making a difference here. When the opportunity came to participate in the food drive, we knew we could have a blast in the process! We decided to make it interesting with some friendly interdepartmental competition - our youth group versus the children’s ministry! It was so exciting to watch faculty and kids alike getting into the spirit of the ultimate “Food Fight,” competing to see who could bring in the most donations! In the end, our youth department won, and to celebrate, our children’s pastor got a pie in the face from our youth pastor. All for a great cause! Thank you so much, FoodNet, for presenting our youth and kids with an opportunity to have fun while making a difference!”

Since introducing the 1/1/1 Campaign, 20 businesses, 14 schools, and 6 churches have joined! There are still several spots that are waiting to be filled, which means there’s plenty of room for your group to join in on the fun!

What has been the collective result of our community coming together against hunger? FoodNet continues to distribute 3,000 supplemental food bags every month, but there have been two weeks where FoodNet has not had to purchase a single non-perishable food item to complete those bags!

Why is this significant?

First, the 1/1/1 Campaign shows the strength of our community when we come together. Secondly, intentional giving means that clients in need of food consistently receive a healthy balance and an adequate amount of nutritional food. Also, it means we can keep the ingredients in our supplemental food bags predictable, providing an element of stability for our clients in crisis. Finally, this campaign provides a significant amount of food so we have to depend less on monetary donations to supplement in-kind donations.

Donation Management Specialist, Laila Landry, shares about the success of the 1/1/1 Campaign so far.

It has been beautiful... It’s wonderful to see all of Acadiana rally behind this initiative and so eagerly provide food to those in need. The unique energy that each group brings to their donation drive is awesome to witness. Together, we’ve made a HUGE impact on FoodNet’s ability to support those facing hunger and food insecurity in our community. I am blessed and humbled to play my part in this success.

We look forward to continuing to engage our community in intentional giving through the

1/1/1 Campaign. Sign up to join in feeding your hungry neighbor today!