The local community will soon be able to help a local children’s shelter, through an endeavor that is quickly becoming a popular tradition in Henry County.

  The annual Cereal Box Challenge is scheduled from June 1-30. Local residents and businesses will have an opportunity to donate boxes of cereal to benefit A Friend’s House, a local children’s shelter.

  “The objective is for everyone to challenge others to donate a box or two,” said Yasna Grainger, who is spearheading the annual project. “We would love for more churches, businesses and organizations to be involved by doing their own challenge and dropping off their collections at a designated drop-off location.”

  Grainger, of Southern Charm Vintage, launched the cereal box challenge six years ago. She said the initial goal of her grassroots endeavor was to help the kids at A Friends House, and to pay tribute to her late father during the month of June.

  “His birthday and Father’s Day fall in June,” said Grainger. “He was no longer here to celebrate. I knew that he had always struggled with the fact of children not having food. In his early years, he had been a homeless adolescent and knew how it felt to not have a regular meal. He became a cook, so that he would always have access to food for himself and for any opportunity to help others.

  “So, later I realized that some kids that would normally get a reduced or free lunch from school are probably not getting regular meals during the summer,” she continued. “Therefore, in his honor I saw fitting to collect something like cereal boxes and donate them to an organization that helps our local kids.”

  Grainger said the Cereal Box Challenge, at first, benefited only A Friend’s House. However, she said, the project eventually grew to include other charitable entities locally as well, in her father’s memory.

  “We were able to help local food pantries, church closets, and homeless initiatives,” said Grainger. “So, in his honor, we are able to stock up food pantries in hopes that it will get to a child or family in need.”

  Grainger collected 50 boxes during the first year of the project and several hundred boxes were collected in the years that followed. The Cereal Box Challenge, she said, gained momentum in 2016, thanks to the participation of the McDonough Junior Women’s Club.

  “Their connection and love for the community enabled us to collect over 1,000 boxes that year,” said Grainger. “I’m so thankful for their partnership as they continue to pour countless hours into the #cerealboxchallenge.”

  The partnership yielded more than 3,000 cereal boxes that year, more than 10,000 boxes in 2017 and more than 5,000 in 2018.

  Grainger’s goal is collect 10,000 boxes in this year’s Cereal Box Challenge.

  A Friend’s House provides approximately 5,400 breakfast meals each year for children and youth who live there, said Operations Manager Angie Beaver. She said the Cereal Box Challenge has been a “tremendous blessing” for the shelter since its inception.

  “The cereal boxes donated to us means we do not have to purchase cereal for a year until the next donation,” said Beaver. “This has become something we depend on financially and our children look forward to each year. The delivery of the cereal boxes brings much excitement in the home as the children and youth begin to ask if their favorite cereal is on the way. The smile alone that it brings on these children’s faces is more than enough.”

  An official list of drop-off locations for the challenge has not been finalized. Grainger added that area residents can follow the Cereal Box Challenge page on Facebook to find out more.   “We will update the drop-off location list as we confirm locations,” she said. We will have over 20 businesses participating as drop-off locations.”