Boca Helping Hands has received an equivalent of 78,150 bowls of cereal from the Cereal4All food drives, which was started by 13-year-old twin brothers, Jett and Luke Justin, Boca Raton residents who attend Don Estridge Middle School.
Breakfast food is one of the least-donated items to food banks across the country. That means not all kids and families have daily access to breakfast in their home. Like most kids, cereal is one of Jett and Luke Justin’s favorite foods.
“We want to live in a world where every kid and family has daily access to breakfast food in their home,” Luke said. “We want to be part of the fight against food insecurity.”
After volunteering at Boca Helping Hands with their parents, Jett and Luke organized their first cereal drive for BHH in 2016 at their school, Calusa Elementary, when they were just eight years old. The boys have since expanded the program, now called Cereal4All, to 10 more schools in the area. Due to COVID-19, only select schools are participating in this year’s cereal drive.
“Cereal is about breakfast, but it’s also about happiness,” Jett said. “We couldn’t stop thinking about the families in our community who couldn’t fill their bowls, and we wanted to do something about it.”
In past years, the cereal drive lasted for two weeks, although it ended after just one week last year due to COVID-19. This year, the drive has been expanded to the months of March and April to allow more time for collection during the pandemic. Thus far, participating schools include Del Prado Elementary, Verde Elementary, Grandview Preparatory School, Coral Sunset Elementary and Sunrise Park Elementary.
In 2019, the twins received six additional pallets of cereal from General Mills after persistently writing to the company for three years. General Mills still supports Cereal4All and this year, they sent the boys T-shirts to give to students who donate cereal boxes.
The entire Justin family continues to volunteer at BHH. “It was always important to my wife and me to instill the idea of needing to think about others and help the community, because it’s the right thing to do,” said Eric Justin, the twin’s father. “The boys bonded with Boca Helping Hands and the mission because it speaks to their hearts. We realized that Boca Helping Hands is a hidden jewel in the community.”
Cereal4All continues to grow due to local partnerships with schools and organizations like Kindness Matters 365, an after-school club focused on interactive opportunities for community service and skill-building. Cereal4All is also working with Florida Atlantic University and its community service club to collaborate on a cereal food drive for the fall term.
