Missouri 4-H’ers across the state are urging donors to give a hand in the final weeks of the 4-H Feeding Missouri food drive, which ends April 30.

To help reach its 2021 goal, Missouri 4-H asks Missourians to donate online at www.FeedingMissouri.org/4H or text “4HFM2021” to 44-321 to donate.

Every $1 donated buys 10 meals for a family. If everyone gave just $5, that would be the helping hand we need to double the amount we have collected so far to serve hungry Missourians, according to Lupita Fabregas, director of the University of Missouri Extension 4-H Center for Youth Development.

Even with in-person food drives, fundraising and other activities curtailed, 4-H members across the state have raised the equivalent of more than 88,000 meals.

One in six children in Missouri struggle with hunger. With job losses and reduced hours related to COVID-19 restrictions, the need for food assistance has grown. This year, local food banks report spending 300 percent more trying to keep pace with the growing demand.

Donations go directly to Feeding Missouri, a coalition of the state’s six major food banks that provides hunger relief through a network of more than 1,600 community-based food programs in every county and the city of St. Louis.