Raise a milk-filled bowl — or 65,000 of them — to congratulate 15-year-old twins Jett and Luke Justin from Boca Raton on another successful year of their cereal drive to benefit the Boca Helping Hands food bank.
Cereal4All runs the initiative organized by the brothers, who attend American Heritage School in Delray Beach. This spring, they collected 6,418 boxes of cereal, which equals about 65,000 bowls for the nonprofit Boca Helping Hands, which provides food, job training, access to healthcare and financial assistance for about 35,000 clients annually.
That’s a lot of Cheerios, Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies.
While volunteering at Boca Helping Hands in 2016, Jett and Luke learned about a breakfast food shortage. Jett said it bothered them that “families and kids might not have daily access to breakfast and that moment of happiness in their day.”
That’s when — at 8 years old — they organized their first cereal drive at their school, Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton.
“We created Cereal4All to fight hunger around America’s breakfast tables because millions of American families suffer from food insecurity, which means they can’t always afford enough meals for everyone in their homes,” Luke said in a statement. “Those families depend on food banks to help ease their hunger issues. Since breakfast food is one of the least donated items to food banks, that means pantry bags of meals distributed to families in need are often missing breakfast food.”
Palm Beach County schools that participated this year include Village Academy Center, Calusa Elementary, Sunrise Park Elementary, St. Joan of Arc Catholic School, Morikami Park Elementary, Whispering Pines Elementary, Grandview Preparatory School, West Boca High School, Katz Hillel Day School, FAU Community Service Club, Boca Raton Elementary, Addison Mizner School and Blue Lake Elementary.
Jett and Luke also have expanded their effort across the country to include schools in Connecticut, Arizona, New York, Nevada, Washington and California in their own Cereal4All drives to help local food banks.
By partnering with businesses, the brothers have been able to offer incentives to their young supporters: Target gift cards to buy school supplies; cereal parties from Publix for top-donating classrooms; and drawings for Miami Heat and Rapids Water Park tickets.
“Running a nonprofit can be hard work, but Cereal4all is one of the most fulfilling things my brother and I do. There’s really no better feeling than making a positive difference in someone else’s life,” Luke said in a statement.
