Little Big Town stopped by the local Second Harvest Food Bank in Nashville on Tuesday afternoon to help stuff backpacks full of food for children to help raise awareness of the near-epidemic issue of hunger facing the nation. Nearly 17 million children – one in five – aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. This is part of the band’s partnership with ConAgra Foods’ Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. The issue is important all year long, but especially during the holidays. “We’re all thinking about being with our family and being together and feasting and eating turkey and all these things, and to think that there are others that won’t have that beautiful gift, it’s not right,” exclaims LBT’s Phillip Sweet. “We’ve got to do something about that.”
Kimberly Schlapman agrees with her bandmate. “The sweetest and the saddest part of today is that we’re stuffing backpacks,” says Kimberly. “So, it’s great that we’re taking care of kids, but it’s so sad that we have to stuff backpacks for them to take food home. That shouldn’t be happening in our country, and that’s what we want to get out there. One in five kids are hungry. 17 million kids in our country, our very own country, are hungry. We can fix that. We have to!”
The band recently released a video of the Child Hunger Ends Here anthem, “Here’s Hope,” exclusively for ConAgra Foods.
AUDIO: Little Big Town talks about why they teamed up with ConAgra Foods and their trip to Nashville’s Second Harvest Food Bank on Tuesday.
LBT (Second Harvest) OC: (Kimberly) …we have to! 1:04
PHILLIP: “It’s important all year long, but even more so this time of year. And I think one good thing is to bring awareness to people’s minds about it, because we’re all thinking about being with our family and being together and feasting and eating turkey and all these things, and to think that there are others that won’t have that beautiful gift, it’s not right! We’ve got to do something about that.” KIMBERLY: “It’s the time of year for just abundance and our kids are making Christmas lists. And thank God there’s not food on those Christmas lists, but for some kids there are, because that’s not something they have on their shelves every day. Kids are out of school more now, and they will be [during] these holidays and they’re gonna need to be fed more than they are now because they won’t be at school. Oh, the sweetest and the saddest part of today is that we’re stuffing backpacks. So, it’s great that we’re taking care of kids, but it’s so sad that we have to stuff backpacks for them to take food home. That shouldn’t be happening in our country, and that’s what we want to get out there. One in five kids are hungry. 17 million kids in our country, our very own country, are hungry. We can fix that. We have to!”
