By Sarah Wiemert, Healthy St. Pete Planner II
For the month of August, Healthy St. Pete is partnering with The Kind Mouse to host their annual back-to-school food drive! The Kind Mouse has been delivering food to children through schools, after-school programs, and organizations that reach kids since 2012. Recently, the organization was awarded a $10,000 grant through the Community Food Grant program to support their operations in Healthy Food Priority Areas throughout the City of St. Petersburg.
Childhood food access is a critical and often overlooked component of food distribution, and childhood food insecurity has been sharply increasing. The most recent data, from 2023, shows that 8.9% of U.S. households with children experience food insecurity at some point during the year, the highest instance in a decade. In Pinellas County, that number is much higher; 17.6% of children under 18 experienced food insecurity in 2023. In the same year, 40% of households receiving SNAP (food stamps) were households with children under 18. In Pinellas County, these children also qualify for free school breakfast and lunch.
The August back-to-school drive primarily supports the Mouse Nibbles weekend snack program, which provides shelf-stable snacks for kids ages 6-18 when they are not in school receiving food from federal child nutrition programs. The Kind Mouse also accepts donations of formula and baby food, which it distributes to partner organizations that provide relief directly to families of children under 5.
Healthy St. Pete Get Fit participants can bring eligible items to Friday and Saturday programs for donation. Donations are not required for participation in Healthy St. Pete programming.
Items should be shelf-stable, unopened, unexpired, and packaged in individual serving sizes and easily opened by children. Examples include:
- Infant formula
- Baby food jars
- UHT regular and chocolate milk boxes
- Tuna snack packs
- Pop top pasta and ravioli meals
- Juice boxes
- Applesauce and fruit cups or pouches
- Peanut butter or cheese crackers
- Granola bars
- Single serve cereal boxes
- Peanut butter cups
To learn more about The Kind Mouse, visit their website at www.thekindmouse.org. For more information about the work that Healthy St. Pete is doing to support health equity through food access, visit the Food Access page of our website.
