This is a pledge to encourage you to donate to your local food pantry. Food pantries help the hungry and are always in need of donations. Due to the economy, more people (i.e. single parents, low income families, the unemployed, the retired, and the disabled) frequent the food pantries for survival.

It is more efficient to donate to a food pantry than a food bank because:

1) donations to the food bank have to be first purchased by food pantries before it is distributed to the poor. donations may perish or expire before it is sold.
2) grocery items that are directly donated to the food pantries are distributed faster to the poor and have more of a shelf life. therefore, perishables like bread, pastries, fruits, vegetables and canned goods are fresher and can be much more enjoyable.
3) Find out where your monetary donation is REALLY going. I read that the "executive directors" of food banks mostly get paid 6 figure incomes. Whereas, people who work for food pantries are volunteers or part time employees.