BURIEN, WASH. – How often have you tried to sleep on an empty stomach? Do you have to go to work or school hungry? Chances are, someone you know experiences hunger on a recurring basis. According to Feeding America, one in seven Americans struggle to put dinner on the table regularly. Without options like the Highline Area and White Center Food Banks, hunger would be experienced even more frequently by families whose resources are stretched too thin.
 
Because hunger neither begins nor ends with the holidays, the City’s annual staff food drive competition is moving from December to September to coincide with the Mayor’s Day of Concern for the Hungry, September 19. The Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle and King County will host their annual food drive tomorrow at grocery stores around the region, but Burien will take the Mayor’s Day of Concern a step farther by continuing to collect food through October 1.
 
“While we know that addressing the root causes of hunger requires ongoing, coordinated efforts on a regional level, it’s an important step for our community to take to ensure the shelves are stocked at our local food banks going into the colder months of the year,” says Burien Mayor Lucy Krakowiak.
 
The community is invited to participate by dropping off any of the following items at Burien City Hall between September 18 and October 1:
 

• Canned food (tomatoes, sauce, meat, tuna, soup, fruit, vegetables)            
• Canned meals (chili, stew, ravioli, etc)
• Boxed meals (burger/tuna helper, macaroni and cheese, Stove Top stuffing, cereal, etc)
• Chicken broth
• Condensed milk
• Peanut butter
• Jelly/Jam
• Baby food
• Olives
• Cooking oil
• Dried pasta
• Fruit juice
• Hygiene items (shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, feminine products, deodorant, baby- diapers, wipes)

 
All donations will be presented on October 2 to the Highline Area Food Bank, which serves Burien from SW 140th Street down to the southern city limits, and to the White Center Food Bank, which serves Burien from the northern city limits to SW 140th Street. In addition to the food drive, the City of Burien provided $13,500 to each of the two food banks this year and has budgeted to do so again in 2016.