THE BIG CHEESE

The Big Cheese
500 Volunteers. 250,000 Meals to help meet food needs in Berks County.

Get ready for some cheesy fun! The Big Cheese 8 will be held June 14, 2024. This year, we will be packaging two kinds of meals to help fight hunger in Berks County: cheesy rice and apple cinnamon oatmeal. Volunteers are typically needed for meal packaging and heavy lifting, and slots are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registration for The Big Cheese opens May 13 at noon. Children ages 10 and up are welcome to participate! This event fills up fast. Please be prepared to enter the following information for all members of your group when you register:

  • Name
  • Cell Number (if all members of your group have the same cell number, please enter it for only one person)
  • Email Address (if all members of your group have the same email address, please enter it for only one person)
  • Ages, if any of the volunteers are minors
  • Select a potential Table Leader for your group

In the meantime, you can help us support the event with a small donation. Every dollar donated buys four meals! Donate now.

United Way’s The Big Cheese is the largest United Way-driven meal packaging event in the country. In 2023, more than 500 volunteers came together to package 250,000 nutrient-fortified mac and cheese and apple cinnamon oatmeal meals for local families experiencing food insecurity. The meals were packaged at Penn State Berks, and Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank will distribute them to local school children through the Weekender Program, as well as through food pantries located throughout Berks County. The Reading School District also receives a portion of the meals, which are distributed to children throughout the school year.

Thank you to Members 1st Federal Credit Union for supporting The Big Cheese 8.