Originally posted on March 10, 2009 on blog.mediasauce.com: 

Childhood hunger is a very real problem in America.

Throughout the year, one out of six children in America worries about when their next meal will come. That’s more than 12 million children at risk of hunger, reports Share Our Strength, a national organization that works hard to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.

Today, as the recession deepens and unemployment rises, more American families are facing hunger for the first time. A record 30 million Americans are on food stamps, and food banks face unprecedented demand.

MediaSauce believes that no child deserves to go hungry and we are committed to help end this solvable problem. Last week, we launched the Pledge to End Hunger campaign in partnership with Share Our Strength, Tyson Food, Hum. Minds at Work., and Kompolt.

The Pledge to End Hunger web site challenges visitors to help spread the word about childhood hunger in America, find ways to get involved with a food bank in their area, and donate money to Share Our Strength. The site encourages also a deeper dialogue about the issue with a blog focused on this initiative and ways to collaboratively solve the roots of this problem.

For every pledge made via an online form on the site, 35 pounds of food product will be donated to hungry children in communities across the country. That is enough to feed 140 children for each pledge made. This generous gift from Tyson Foods has helped spark quite a movement. In the first 28 hours alone, we had 1,000 people make a commitment to give, volunteer, and/or spread the word.

By reaching the 1,000 mark, the campaign was successful in loading a semi-trailer truck with 140,000 servings of food that will be scheduled for delivery on March 16 at the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB) in Austin, Texas. Austin was chosen because it is the home of the upcoming South by Southwest, the annual music, film and interactive conference, where thousands of highly connected individuals are planning to converge later this week.

This overwhelming support has encouraged us to take the Pledge to End Hunger campaign further. Thanks to Tyson Foods increased generosity, we can send up to two more semi-trucks of food to help feed children in need. Now, everyone who rallied for the Austin effort has the opportunity to secure a truck of food for their own community.

Before we can determine where to send them, we first need to fill the two new trucks up by obtaining a total of 3,000 online pledges. At the time of writing this post, The Pledge has just over 1,500 pledges. With the leadership of the campaign co-chairs, Chris Brogan (New Marketing Labs), and Beth Kanter (Beth’s Blog), we are determined to accomplish this goal before the end of today.

Have you signed The Pledge yet? One click can feed 140 children. You can sign the online pledge here and then ask the world to join you!

MediaSauce is an Indiana-based company and a national leader in Internet strategy and audience-driven web development. MediaSauce helps companies build lasting connections that will drive business in this Interconnected Age. MediaSauce’s proprietary Digital Blueprint methodology identifies organizations’ greatest opportunities and builds a strategic framework to transform businesses using digital and social media. To learn more, please visit www.mediasauce.com, blog.mediasauce.com, or www.mediasauce.com/cause/.