Soon, people standing in the checkout lane of their local Meijer will have the opportunity to purchase their groceries and donate to the hungry at the same time.

Once again, the Edwardsburg Food Pantry is teaming up with the Grape Road, Mishawaka, Indiana, Meijer store to raise funds for those in need.

The Meijer “Simply Give” program, which the store runs three times per years with different charities, allows shoppers to purchase a $10 donation card for the Edwardsburg Food Pantry, which the Grape Road Meijer will then match with its own donation to the pantry. The donation cards, which can be found in the checkout aisle, may be scanned as many times as one wants to match the amount of money they wish to donate.

The promotion will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 16. Meijer will also host a special Double Match Days on the Labor Day Weekend, honoring Hunger Action Month in September. On this weekend, the store will match any $10 donation card purchase with a $20 donation, leading to a total of a $30 donation to the Edwardsburg Food Pantry.

“August and September are usually pretty slow in terms of giving,” said Scott Scheel, the pastor of Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church and the current president of the Edwardsburg Food Pantry. “But [this program] makes it one of the best months we will have all year.”

The “Simply Give” program is very important to the pantry because it brings in donations during a typically slow time, in terms of donations, for the pantry. Because many people are on vacation during the summer months, they tend not to donate in the same way they do during the holiday season, Scheel said.

“[The program] is an incentive for people to give at a time when they otherwise wouldn’t,” he said. “During the summer, people don’t think about it as much, but the problem is still there and the need for food is great, because the kids are at home and not getting school lunches.”

Over the years, the “Simply Give“ program has proven a success for the Edwardsburg Food Pantry. Last year alone, the program raised $16,280 for the pantry to use to provide nutritious food and other products for those in need.

“It’s a boost for the food pantry,” Scheel said. “It’s tremendous what they are able to do with that.”

Scheel would encourage anyone who wants to help out the food pantry to participate in the Simply Give program.

“It helps the money people want to give go further than it otherwise would,” Scheel said. “I would encourage people to think of it that way.”