JustServe Helps Silicon Slopes Provide 1 Million Meals to Hungry Children 

At a major two-day technology conference in Salt Lake City this week, topics of conversation swirled around much more than the latest tech news. More than 20,000 attendees of the 2019 Silicon Slopes Tech Summit and members of the community contributed to the Silicon Slopes goal of providing 1 million meals to hungry children.

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“I think to have over 24,000 people at the Salt Palace and a lot of employees spending some of that time packaging meals to feed kids is just unbelievable,” said Clint Betts, executive director of Silicon Slopes. “All the slots were filled. All the service lines were filled.”

Silicon Slopes is partnering with service and charitable organizations, such as Feeding Children Everywhere, Brainstorm, Inc. and JustServe to give meals to hungry children in the U.S.

The call for volunteers went out to the community through JustServe.org, a website provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and other social channels to connect the workers with community service needs in the United States and other countries.

“It's so great to have a platform like JustServe that will allow us to connect with people like that all across the country that want to make a difference for children and families in need,” said David Green, CEO of Feeding Children Everywhere. 

“BrainStorm and Silicon Slopes came together with JustServe to try and figure out how we could come up with something that we're calling Silicon Slopes Serves,” explained Karen Petersen, CMO, Brainstorm, Inc. “It's a community effort to both find opportunities to give and contribute back to the community that we live in.”

More than 5,000 volunteers showed up at the convention center and put on their hair nets and gloves to help fill the food kits and place them in boxes for delivery.

“It's a fun, high-energy, hands-on volunteer experience where volunteers in a very short period of time make a huge impact in packaging meals like oatmeal and mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, jambalaya, hamburger — all kinds of food that's going to go in a grocery bag for children and families in need,” said Green.

“I'm with my family and we are making breakfast for all the hungry children in United States,” said 10-year-old McKelle Birchall, a volunteer who participated in the service event with her mother. “I like just having the feeling of serving.”

“Teaching your children to serve at a young age is crucial for them as adults to know that this is how you give back to your community,” explained Summer Birchall.

"I think the volunteers are … the real heroes,” said Green.

Conference attendees also donated by dipping their credit cards into machines in the convention center.

It’s estimated that 40 million people struggle with hunger in the United States, including more than 12 million children.