TAVARES – The Lake County Board of County Commissioners, in partnership with the County’s Constitutional Officers, the Public Defender’s Office and the State’s Attorney’s Office, will be collecting donated food items from June 1-30 to benefit the local Kids Against Hunger.

During the summer, Kids Against Hunger will distribute 2,500 meals per week to children in the community by providing a backpack filled with five meals each of breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks, juice boxes and shelf-stable milk.

There are currently over 2,700 homeless students living in Lake County, and 60 percent of Lake County’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The items needed to help fill the backpacks include:

• Single-serve cereal boxes
• Pre-baked toaster pastries
• Cereal bars
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Single-serve cans of spaghetti, soups, etc.      
• Single-serve fruits cups
• Single packs of raisins
• Single-serve containers of shelf-stable milk (chocolate and white)
• Single-serve snacks

Those interested in contributing are asked to bring their donations to the second floor rotunda in the Lake County Administration Building, located at 315 W. Main St. in Tavares, where collection bins will be located.

For more information about the food drive, call Andrea Kennard at 352-343-9850, or Niki Booth at 352-343-9888. For more information about Kids Against Hunger, call 352-343-6700.