Welcome to the 25th Year of THV11’s Summer Cereal Drive!

Learn more about how to join in on the fun this summer with THV11 and Arkansas Foodbank below!

SCD Facebook Event Page

History of the Summer Cereal Drive

In 2000, THV’s 11 Tom Brannon saw a problem: when schools were on summer break, there was a large percentage of children were left without access to nutritious breakfast and lunch. To combat the increased levels of food insecurity over the summer, Tom approached the Arkansas Foodbank and set up a cereal drive. The Summer Cereal Drive was expected to last two or three years – 25 years later, it is one of Arkansas’s most recognizable fundraisers.

Over our history, the Summer Cereal Drive has provided over 4 million breakfast items to the children and their families in our 33 county service area. This event would not be what it is without the teams who collect cereal and raise money for the Summer Cereal Drive.

To honor this historic achievement, we’re doubling our goal to 500,000 boxes, and we need your help to make it happen!

How to Join in the Fun

Anyone can register a team for the Summer Cereal Drive. Each team has a Team Captain, who is the main contact and organizer. Team Captains will sign up using the button below. Once you have signed up – start raising cereal!

How the Competition Works

Teams compete in a friendly competition to raise the most cereal. Teams are divided into seven divisions, and each team in divisions one through six are eligible to win awards at the Breakfast of Champions.

This year we have made some changes to our Team Divisions:

Division 1: Organizations with 1 – 50 Employees
Division 2: Organizations with 51 – 249 Employees
Division 3: Organizations with 251 + Employees
Division 4: Church, Civic, Individual, or Family Teams
Division 5: Youth
Division 6: Schools, Colleges, School Sponsored Clubs
Division 7: Non-Compete

Once you or your Team Captain has signed up, you will be emailed to set up your online fundraising page. You can raise monetary funds or cereal boxes. Please review the Team Captain Playbooks for more information and ideas on how to have fun and make an impact this Summer Cereal Drive.

2025 Summer Cereal Drive Events

May 2, 2025 – Summer Cereal Drive Kickoff at the THV11 Weather Garden

Community Sites – 25th Anniversary World Tour
Mini-Locations
• June 2 – Maumelle and Sherwood
• June 3 – Lonoke and Carlisle
• June 4 – Jessieville and Hot Springs Village
• June 5 –  Clinton and Greenbrier
• June 6 – Arkadelphia and Malvern
• June 9 – Cabot and Jacksonville
• June 10- Conway and Mayflower
• June 11 – Searcy and Bald Knob
• June 12 – Vilonia and Beebe
• June 13 – Russellville and Morrilton

For all Mini Community Sites, we will be on-site at the first location from 6:30-10:30am, and we will be on-site at the second location from 11:00am-12:30pm.

Traditional Locations
• June 16 – North Little Rock
• June 17 – Hot Springs
• June 18 – Benton/Bryant
• June 19 – Pine Bluff
• June 20 – Little Rock 

For all Traditional Community Sites, we will be on-site from 6:30am-12:30pm.

June 27, 2025 – Final Drop Off at the Arkansas Foodbank
July 18, 2025 – Breakfast of Champions at the Arkansas Foodbank

RSVP to the Summer Cereal Drive events

Drop-Off Guidelines

All donations must come with a completed Team Accounting Sheet.

For monetary donations, including those mailed in, your team must be specified, either through a note or a memo on each check. If your team is not specified, your team will NOT receive credit for the donation.

All online donations must be made on your team page. If donations are made on the general Summer Cereal Drive donation page, they will not be moved or credited to your team.

Your team must turn in a completed Final Recap Report at your final drop-off.

If your team drops off without notification, your team may not receive credit for the donation.

Official Summer Cereal Drive Drop-Offs: Kick-Off, Community Sites, and Final Drop-Off

We will not receive any donations after June 27th.

RSVP Your Team for a Drop-off

How to Donate!

Since 2000, teams across central and south Arkansas have competed to provide the most cereal to our neighbors facing hardships — particularly children — during summer months. While many of us look forward to summer, 1 in 4 children in our state face increased levels of food insecurity as schools close classrooms and kitchens during summer break. Help us hit the goal of 500,000 boxes of cereal for our 25th anniversary.

$1 = 1 Box of Cereal!

ONLINE: Donate online for the SCD and help the Foodbank purchase cereal! Every dollar donated allows the Foodbank to acquire and distribute a box of cereal. Just select a dollar amount to donate.

You can donate to a local team to support this friendly competition or directly to the SCD general Fundraising page

DONATE VIA MAIL:

Please mail checks to:

Arkansas Foodbank – SCD General Donation (Team name must go in memo line)
4301 W 65^th Street
Little Rock, AR 72209

SCD Resources

Drop-Off Paperwork

Team Accounting Sheets

Final Recap Report

Pledge Sheet

SCD Media Kit

AFB Fact SHeet

SHOP and Drop Locations (TBA)

Be sure to post tons of pictures, and even videos, of your Summer Cereal Drive Team! Tag Arkansas Foodbank and use hashtags for a chance to be featured on our pages, stories, or Facebook Event Page!

Facebook and Linked In: @ArkansasFoodbank

Instagram, X, and TikTok: @ARFoodbank

#ARFoodbank #THV11SCD25 #THV11SCD #arkansasfoodbank

Follow our SCD Facebook Event Page

Who is invited to the Breakfast of Champions?

After the final-drop off, the Arkansas Foodbank team will audit all donations and cereal. Though every team is invited to the Breakfast of Champions, not everyone wins an award. If your team wins an award, you will receive a notification.

What counts as a box of cereal?

Teams collect nonperishable breakfast items for the Summer Cereal Drive. Breakfast items include cereal, granola bars, instant oatmeal, toaster pastries, etc. Teams are expected to count their boxes before drop-off. To calculate boxes, we use the measurement of about 17-18 ounces per box. In general, defer to ounces per box. For cereal, we typically treat the regular boxes and family sizes as one box but double boxes are counted as two. Mini boxes of cereal do not count as one box unless they are part of a pack.

How does $1.00 = 1 box of cereal?

Arkansas Foodbank is a warehouse and distributor of food. At Arkansas Foodbank, cereal is ordered in bulk then hand packed and labeled by volunteers. A box of this hand-packed cereal costs a dollar.

How do pantries get cereal?

Each community site and shop&drop site is paired with a community pantry. When the collection is over, the pantries pick the cereal up directly from the stores. They then can start distributing the cereal immediately. When cereal is dropped off at the Arkansas Foodbank, it is added to our online order system. Pantries can order the cereal online, and it is either delivered to them or picked up by pantry representatives.

How do I add my teammates to my fundraising page?

Once your team fundraising page is set up, scroll down to the bottom where it says “team performance.” There you will see a link to invite team members to your page. Copy that link and email or text it to them.

Why do I not see the date that I want to request?

Available dates can change according to the event, number of openings, holiday schedules, etc. Dates are normally available one to two months prior so it may be possible that dates in the future have not been open for registration. Please contact us if you have questions about dates not listed.

Where are volunteer opportunities located?

We currently offer volunteer opportunities across our service area. We offer opportunities at 3 Foodbank locations in Little Rock, Warren, and Lexa AR. We also have mobile distributions and special event opportunities available across our 33 county service area. Location information can be found by clicking on the links listed for each volunteer opportunity listed above.

Help us reach our goal of 500,000 Boxes of Cereal!

About the Arkansas Foodbank

Since its inception in 1984, Arkansas Foodbank has been at the forefront of hunger relief, distributing millions of meals to individuals and families across its 33-county service area through a network of more than 400 community partners, including pantries, churches, community centers, and schools. Through this network, the Foodbank has distributed more than half a billion pounds of food, providing over 416 million meals.

Learn More