Update: Utah Celebrates September with 'Beating Hunger by a Mile' Event

Utah celebrated September with a mile long of food in downtown Salt Lake from City Hall to the State Capitol. Utah Food Bank kicked off the "Hunger Action Month" with the theme, "Beating Hunger with a Mile" in an effort to raise awareness about hunger in the community.

 It's officially #hungeractionmonth and @utahfoodbank ain't messin around! Bring your food donations down to Washington Square (where @utahartsfest is) and they are lining it up all the way to the @utstatecapitol to #beathungerbyamile. Also join us September 18th at all three of our locations for Double Donation day, every sammie you buy, we'll donate two! #eattogive

A photo posted by Even Stevens (@evenstevenssandwiches) on Sep 3, 2015 at 8:49am PDT

Hundreds of food was donated and over 80 volunteered for the month long effort to raise awareness in celebration of "Hunger Action Month" as reported in Deseret News. About 12,000 food items were donated and lined up the street from City Hall to the State Capitol. The food bank were able to receive 6,556 pounds of food donations that will provide 5,463 meals to almost 444,000 residents of Utah who are food insecure. Aside food donations, the food bank also accepted monetary donations.

Ginette Bott, the food bank's development officer said it was a challenge they conquered. The food bank is dependent on food donations, money and time from the local residents and businesses. By the end of summer, they were up by 11 percent compared to last year. This annual event started four years ago when 94.1 KODJ radio staff, Scott Fisher, proposed the idea to the Utah Food Bank. Fisher said that the visual line of food on the street will remind the Utahns of those who are struggling for food in their area.

A photo posted by Utah Food Bank (@utahfoodbank) on Sep 3, 2015 at 12:20pm PDT

"Usually what we do is very serious and somber. The families we see are very challenged and struggling, so when we as a group, whether it is volunteers or staff, recognize that we can have fun with what we do, it is really important to all of us", Bott said. "It's nice to have an atmosphere of fun", she added.

The Utah Food Bank provides food to state-wide network of 134 emergency food pantries and agencies. Many families and children still suffer from food insecurity considering Utah's economy is improving. Just last year, the food bank distributed about 37.5 million pounds of food and goods last year to families and individuals in need, that's equivalent to 31.3 million meals.

Aside from this, the food bank is known to support a "Kids Cafe" serving around 245,000 meals. They also delivered around 41,000 food boxes and filled over 60,000 kids' backpacks to continue provide nourishment to kids during weekends when school meal programs won't be provided.