SUMMER IS LONG WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY.

On a typical day, Kids’ Meals makes and delivers over 8,400 meals to preschool-aged children (ages 5 and under) who do not have access to free school-based meal programs. In the summer, that number more than doubles as we not only feed preschool-aged children but ALL school-aged siblings in the home. This summer, we need your help to deliver over 800,000 free, healthy meals to the doorsteps of Houston’s hungriest children between May 1 – July 31. 

That means we need 800,000 sandwiches, 800,000 bags, 800,000 fruit snacks, and 800,000 juice boxes. Each summer, teams of wonderful people just like you compete to help collect juice boxes (100% juice).

Joining the Summer Juice Box Challenge is tons of fun, and it’s easy.

Ready to compete? Follow these simple steps:

CREATE YOUR TEAM

Many kinds of teams compete in the Summer Juice Box Challenge. From corporations, department competitions, places of worship, schools, friends, workout groups, small businesses, the possibilities are endless! No group is too big or too small to join the Juice Box Challenge.  

SIGN UP HERE STARTING MARCH 1, 2024!

SET UP YOUR DONATION PLATFORM:
Virtual and/or In-Person

To collect virtually, set up your page with a free account through You Give Goods starting March 1, 2024. The juice box options are all approved, and your team’s page can be customized and shared with friends, family, and co-workers. People can donate from anywhere and You Give Goods ships all the juice boxes your team collected directly to us. 

To collect in person, designate your own drop-off location then keep count as the juice boxes come in (you will bring them to Kids’ Meals when ready). 

PROMOTE YOUR DRIVE

Hang fliers around the office, send out emails, share the link to your You Give Goods drive on your social media accounts, and use whatever other creative ideas you produce to make your drive as successful as possible. As you tell others your progress compared to other teams, FRIENDLY trash talk is encouraged. 

Want a custom flyer with your team’s logo or name on it? Would a different type of promotional material be helpful? Simply email anna@kidsmealsinc.org and let us know what you need!

SCHEDULE YOUR DROP-OFF

Schedule a time to drop off the juice boxes you collected. Please provide us with 5 days’ notice to ensure your totals are added correctly and your photos are taken. 

Click here to schedule my drop off 

Want to compete for the “Best in Show” prize? Set up a fun and creative drop-off that wows our team (we have had teams on horseback, dressed as The Village People, with police escort, choreographed dances, and much more!) Drop-off times are Monday-Friday between 10am-2pm. 

If you are collecting using YOU GIVE GOODS, you get to skip this step! 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

1. Does it matter what flavor/brand of juice boxes we collect? – We require that all juice boxes are 100% juice, in an effort to provide nutritious meals. No Kool-Aid, Capri Sun, or juice pouches.

2. Can we run our team’s juice box challenge for only a portion of the summer? – Absolutely! We have teams that start and stop their competition at all sorts of times during the May 1 – July 31 timeline.

3. We are collecting our juice boxes through You Give Goods, but we want to compete for Best In Show. Can we have the juice boxes delivered to our location so that we can deliver them? – Yes! If you would like to set this up, email our You Give Goods representative Michelle at michelle.seideneck@yougivegoods.com – Make sure to let Michelle know you would like to do this at the beginning as You Give Goods sends us juice boxes throughout the competition rather than sending them all at the end.

4. We collected a LOT of juice boxes in person and do not have a way to deliver them all. Can Kids’ Meals come pick them up? – Kids’ Meals is happy to pick up juice box donations that are more than 2,000 boxes. We do have a few requirements as our staff and truck availability is limited.

• We need at least a one-week notice prior to picking up the juice boxes.
• We ask that you be flexible with our schedule. Our vans and trucks are used throughout the day to deliver meals to hungry children and to pick up food donations. Therefore, we only have certain pickup days/times available.
• Juice boxes should be placed in one central location
• We ask that your group provide volunteers to help our driver load the juice boxes into the truck

Don’t see your question here? Email anna@kidsmealsinc.org