Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Approximately 415,000 Utahns face food insecurity, including 1 in 6 children.
- Silicon Slopes and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are packaging 1 million meals to be donated to the Utah Food Bank.
- Seven thousand volunteers will volunteer in the event at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
SALT LAKE CITY — Food security is a real issue in the Beehive State.
Approximately 415,000 Utahns, including 1 in 6 children, face food insecurity, according to data from Feeding America.
"The numbers of people requesting help are higher than they were during COVID, which means the need hasn't gone away. People are still struggling," said Ginette Bott, president and CEO of the Utah Food Bank. "Many, many factors are impacting families in their monthly budget, and those dollars are being spent on things before food."
To address this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has partnered with Silicon Slopes through JustServe to host a unique service project of packing 1 million meals to be given to the Utah Food Bank.
This year marks the fifth that organizations, businesses and volunteer groups have come together to fight against food insecurity.
The event, which is affiliated with the annual Silicon Slopes Summit, will see about 7,000 volunteers flood the Salt Palace Convention center Tuesday through Thursday to pack the 1 million meals.
Eric Farr, co-owner of Brainstorm, the corporate sponsor of Silicon Slope's charitable and philanthropic arm, Slope Serves, and assistant director of the Utah area communication council of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night will be dedicated to youth volunteers.
"We invite youth groups, whether it's church groups, sports groups, school clubs ... to participate, and tonight, we should have approximately 2,200 to 2,400 young people," Farr said.
This year's initiative isn't the first time Silicon Slopes has stepped in to address hunger in Utah, either. In August 2024, Silicon Slopes announced it would be donating all net proceeds from memberships to the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Fund in hopes of helping alleviate Utah's $2.8 million in school lunch debt.
"No child should ever go without food at school or anywhere else," Silicon Slopes executive director Clint Betts said during an X space he hosted announcing the school lunch debt initiative. "I believe we live in the greatest state in the greatest country in the world, and this shouldn't be a problem. Since this is a Utah problem, it's up to Utahns to solve."
Both Bott and Farr noted that hunger is not something that can be solved by one entity or organization and that collaboration is the only true avenue for relief.
"The Utah Food Bank will deploy about 50 to 55 million meals a year. While a million (meals) seems like a lot ... It really is a drop in the bucket," Farr said.
"We need to be prepared because we know the numbers (of people in need) are growing and we need to be ready. No kids, no seniors, no families, no one in Utah, in this day in age, should be without food," Bott said.
