Rural Health combats summer hunger through kids food drive

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (KBSI) – Rural Health of Southern Illinois is helping local southern Illinois food pantries stock up as they say, they often see a huge increase in need during the summer.

Shawnna Rhine is the Rural Health Inc. Public Relations Director, she shares that local food pantries often become overloaded during the summer with children home, and parents having higher grocery bills. That’s why rural health is helping to stock local pantries to help fill the crucial need of nutrition for growing children.

“What we want everybody to realize is that by not having that nutrition program during the summertime these kids are missing out on nutritious meals, as many as two a day” says Rhine. “So that impacts how they develop, how they function, how they think, how they grow in general and it also helps them to ward off any infections. So having nutrition as part of their diet is very, very important.” 

Rural Health will hold three different food collection sites during the month of May.

 “What we typically see about this time of year is about a 700 over 800% increase in the number of families who participate in the food pantries throughout our region” says Rhine. 

Rural Health, Inc. held its first of three Kids Food Drive at Goreville Food Market in Goreville on May 14, 2025

The other two food drives are scheduled at Big John’s Superstore in Metropolis on May 22 and Kroger in Anna on May 28.