Was one of your New Year's resolutions to help out more in this fine city of ours? Well, here's your chance... Second Harvest's tenth annual Lunch Money Day is fast approaching, and they're looking for willing individuals to volunteer on February 21st.

Second Harvest has been gathering food from participating donors and distributing the goods to local agencies for almost 25 years. Their annual Lunch Money Day is just one successful way they've been able to help the countless Torontonians that don't get enough to eat. An astounding 40% of their recipients are children.

Here are some more numbers, to put things into perspective for you. Second Harvest was able to deliver enough food last year for 14,000 fresh meals. That's 5 million pounds of perishable groceries to over 250 soup kitchens, shelters, and community and after school programs.

There are lots of ways you can do your part in feeding the hungry in Toronto. The purpose of Lunch Money Day is to get people to bring a bag lunch to work or school on February 21st, and to donate the money you would've used to buy lunch to the Lunch Money Day campaign. For every $5 donated, Second Harvest is able to provide ten fresh meals to those in need.

If you'd like to participate in Lunch Money Day, you can run a campaign in your office or at your school. Or, you can donate on an individual level. Better yet, you can volunteer your time, which is even more invaluable. People are needed for teams that will be stationed across the city in specified public places (subway and GO stations and along the PATH). These teams will collect donations and help spread the good word about Lunch Money Day and Second Harvest. The shifts will take place early in the morning, before regular business hours, so you won't have to miss a day of work or school (unless, of course, you want to)! If you're interested, contact Ruth Zuchter, who is the Volunteer Program Coordinator at Second Harvest. She can be reached by calling 416-408-2594 x. 243, or by emailing ruthz [at] secondharvest [dot] ca.

Second Harvest also has a couple of contests running as incentive. Buy a raffle ticket for $5 and you can win one of four great prizes, including two vacation packages to Vancouver, a stay at the Fairmont Royal York here in Toronto, and a trip down the lake to Niagara Falls (plus much, much more)!! You can also enter their online contest for a chance to win a Leafs jersey signed by Andrew Raycrof, tickets to a Raptors vs. Heat game or a 4GB iPod Nano. If giving out of the goodness of your heart isn't enough, I think these prizes will motivate you!

Photo by LexnGer from the blogTO Flickr pool.