More than 2,000 boxes of cereal were collected in the inaugural Summer Hunger Cereal Drive, sponsored by General Mills, during the month of May. The cereal and monetary donations made during the drive will be used by the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank to fight summer hunger.

The drive took place at all Walmart stores, including the Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in the four counties – Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington – served by the Food Bank.

“We want to thank General Mills and Walmart for their passion to fight summer hunger and help us pull of this inaugural effort,” said Mike Williams, director of development for the Food Bank.

“We are looking forward to building on the cereal drive in 2019,” he said.

The cereal is being distributed in two ways, according to Williams. Some of the partner agencies went to the local Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets to collect the boxes of cereal. The rest of the cereal was collected by the Food Bank and will be made available to families through the agency partners.

The cereal drive was aimed at getting a head start in fighting summer hunger now that school is out for the summer and students may not be receiving meal assistance from school.

One in five children have food insecurities in Northwest Arkansas.