{"id":6294,"date":"2025-05-02T12:50:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=6294"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:50:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:50:56","slug":"summercerealdrive","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/news\/summercerealdrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Connections Sponsors THV11 Summer Cereal Drive to Help Fight Childhood Hunger in Arkansas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Healthy Connections<\/strong>, a Federally-Qualified Health Center serving Arkansas communities for more than 25 years, is proud to sponsor the <strong>25th Annual THV11 Summer Cereal Drive<\/strong>\u2014a statewide campaign to combat childhood hunger during the critical summer months. Organized by <strong>THV11<\/strong> and the <strong>Arkansas Foodbank<\/strong>, the drive seeks to collect <strong>500,000 boxes of cereal and other breakfast items<\/strong> for children and families in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Launched in 2000 by <strong>Chief Meteorologist Tom Brannon<\/strong>, the Summer Cereal Drive has become one of Arkansas\u2019s most impactful hunger relief efforts. Over the past 25 years, more than <strong>4 million boxes of cereal<\/strong> have been donated thanks to the generosity of Arkansans. This year\u2019s anniversary drive is going bigger than ever, with THV11 visiting <strong>25 community locations<\/strong> throughout the month of June\u2014including a major stop in <strong>Hot Springs on June 17<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"THV11 Summer Cereal Drive 2025 with Healthy Connections\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WBFG2osYg7E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At Healthy Connections, that mission hits home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur commitment to the communities we serve goes beyond the clinic walls,\u201d said <strong>Jeffrey Slatton<\/strong>, Business Communications and Marketing Manager at Healthy Connections. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re proud to support the Summer Cereal Drive. This is a natural extension of our mission\u2014and of our three pillars: <strong>Community, Compassion, and Excellence<\/strong>. We live these values every day, and this effort reflects exactly what they mean in action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Donate Through Healthy Connections<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>All <strong>Healthy Connections clinic locations<\/strong> are official drop-off sites for the Summer Cereal Drive. We encourage patients, staff, and community members to bring donations of shelf-stable breakfast items through <strong>Saturday, June 15<\/strong>. These donations will be collected and presented to the <strong>Arkansas Foodbank at the Hot Springs community event on June 17<\/strong>, where Healthy Connections staff will also be on hand to assist with the drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Items that count as donations include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Boxes of dry cereal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instant oatmeal packets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Granola bars<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Toaster pastries (like Pop-Tarts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shelf-stable breakfast drinks or milk alternatives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All donated items should be <strong>unopened, not expired, nutritious, and kid-friendly<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why It Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When school is out for summer, thousands of Arkansas children lose access to the regular meals they receive during the school year. That creates a gap that many families struggle to fill. The Summer Cereal Drive is designed to help close that gap\u2014and give every child a healthy start to their day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about donating cereal\u2014it\u2019s about standing with our neighbors,\u201d said Slatton. \u201cWhen school meals disappear during the summer, too many Arkansas kids are left without a reliable breakfast. We want families to know their community is behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the overall campaign runs through <strong>June 27<\/strong>, Healthy Connections will only accept donations at its clinics until <strong>June 15<\/strong> to ensure they are delivered in time for the statewide presentation in Hot Springs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the Summer Cereal Drive, including a list of statewide drop-off events and ways to participate, visit:<br><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thv11.com\/article\/news\/community\/25th-annual-thv11-summer-cereal-drive\/91-b10a2f14-8d78-474e-ab63-4330db53f406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.thv11.com\/article\/news\/community\/25th-annual-thv11-summer-cereal-drive\/91-b10a2f14-8d78-474e-ab63-4330db53f406<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Healthy Connections, a Federally-Qualified Health Center serving Arkansas communities for more than 25 years, is proud to sponsor the 25th Annual THV11 Summer Cereal Drive\u2014a statewide campaign to combat childhood hunger during the critical summer months. Organized by THV11 and the Arkansas Foodbank, the drive seeks to collect 500,000 boxes of cereal and other breakfast [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6296,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"news-categories":[248],"class_list":["post-6294","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-categories-news-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/6294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthy-connections.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-categories?post=6294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}