BAKERSFIELD — Peanut butter and jelly is a staple of many children’s diets, but when school is out for the summer some may have to without this simple meal.

Save Mart and Lucky grocery stores are looking to ease that burden for thousands of children in California and northern Nevada with its second Peanut Butter Roundup. That effort includes a partnership right here in Kern County with the Food Bank, which is part of the Community Action Partnership of Kern.

The program is running through May 30.

Last year the effort collected more than 10 tons of peanut butter and jelly to distribute to children around the state, including here in Kern County.

The key partners on the effort is Jif brand peanut butter and Smucker’s jelly. A customer can visit a store in Bakersfield and will be offered a buy one, give one deal on the peanut butter or jelly. Save Mart’s store brand, Sunny Select, is also part of the program.

This year customers can also round up their bill to provide a donation to the local food banks. For instance, if a bill is $49.01, the customer can choose to pay $50 with the .99 cents being donated to the food bank. That effort raised more than $10,000 for local food banks.

The grocery store chain said that one-in-four children go hungry during the summertime while school is out.