DETROIT — Children’s Hospital of Michigan is pleased to announce that through its partnership with Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, more than 500,000 servings of cereal were raised as a part of the 11^th Annual Cereal Drive, which ran from May 18-June 8, 2020.

“The cereal and monetary donations we collected during our first-ever virtual Cereal Drive will provide a nutritious breakfast during the summer months to local families struggling with food insecurity.  I cannot thank our staff and our community enough for the role they all played,” said Kathy Donovan, chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “We care deeply about the children of Southeast Michigan and we want to do our part to combat hunger.”

The first Cereal Drive was held in 2009 and collected 160,757 servings of cereal. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cereal Drive was largely virtual as Children’s Hospital of Michigan accepted online donations going to Gleaners Community Food Bank to support the community wherever the need is greatest this year.

Last year, Children’s Hospital of Michigan raised more than 3 million servings and the initiative had collected 10,849,328 servings of cereal over 10 years.  The organization extends a special thanks to Kellogg, Kroger, Jay Towers in the Morning and all of the community members for helping make this year’s Cereal Drive a success.

In Southeast Michigan, more than 310,000 children rely on free or reduced-fee breakfast and lunch each day during the school year. Unfortunately, during the summer months, many of these children suffer from hunger because they no longer receive adequate meals. 

“Without access to breakfast and lunch at school, many kids in our community, and their families, struggle during the summer months to get the food they need to be healthy and thrive,” said Gerry Brisson, Gleaners president and CEO. “We are grateful to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan’s nurses and staff for the incredible efforts that go into the Annual Cereal Drive to support Gleaners and our hungry neighbors at this critical time of year.”

Those who wish may still make a donation by visiting ChildrensDMC.org/CerealDrive to help feed children in the local community this summer or request assistance for a family or a child they know. Children’s Hospital of Michigan looks forward to June 4-June 11, 2021 to once again fill buses and trucks of cereal in person.