12th annual PB&J Challenge kicks off, helps feed hungry kids

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin kicked off its 12th Annual PB&J Challenge on Wednesday, October 1st.

The PB&J Challenge is a food drive that encourages elementary and middle school students to collect peanut butter and jelly at their local school to help feed hungry kids. Schools are encouraged to sign up to participate in the PB&J Challenge on the Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin website.

Schools that collect the most peanut butter and jelly during the month of October will be honored during halftime at the Milwaukee Bucks game on November 22, 2014. There are two winners per school category: most pounds per school and most pounds per student.

Starting October 19th through November 9th, the public can donate peanut butter and jelly at participating Pick ’n Save stores in the barrels featuring Bango, the Milwaukee Bucks mascot. Each person who donates will receive a voucher to attend the PB&J Challenge Recognition Night at the Milwaukee Bucks game on November 22, 2014. For every two customer purchases of featured Brownberry bread, Jif peanut butter or Smucker’s jelly, Roundy’s will donate one jar of Jif peanut butter or Smucker’s jelly to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin. Last year, students and the public generated more than 41,000 pounds of peanut butter and jelly.

In the past ten years, enough peanut butter and jelly has been collected to provide nearly four million sandwiches to children at risk of hunger.

Partners in the 12th Annual Peanut Butter and Jelly Challenge include: Pick ’n Save, Jif, Smucker’s, Brownberry and the Milwaukee Bucks.

UPDATE: Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin on Tuesday, November 11th announced the winning schools in the PB&J Challenge. We're told 10 tons (21,356 pounds) of peanut butter and jelly were collected.

The winning schools in the "most pounds of pb&j per school" category are: St. Joseph Catholic Academy, Kenosha, 1,843 pounds and Whitefish Bay Middle School, Whitefish Bay, 3,115 pounds.

The winners with the "most pounds of pb&j per student" are: Divine Mercy School, South Milwaukee, 3.5 pounds per student; Hales Corners Lutheran Middle School, Hales Corners, 21.3 pounds per student.

Each winning school will receive a plaque and a $250 gift certificate to a local sporting goods store.