One in eight Americans will go hungry this year.
Please move on to and rec Diary #3 here
Last night, at the invitation of Green 960 station manager John Scott, I took the stage at the Broadway Club in North Beach, San Francisco, and asked the audience to login to Kos today, recommend "our "Filling Empty Bowls" blogs and make a donation to Feeding America.
Folks, that crowd, on hand to spend an evening with Nova FM's Mike Malone, was nothing short of 'fired up and ready to go' about joining together to address hunger in America! A mega-thank you to Scott, who posted news of this event on the Green960 site as soon as I contacted him Wednesday and invited me in to talk about hunger in America for a few minutes last night. A quick welcome to anyone who was in the audience. Now read on, rec, and donate what you can!
The hungry are hardworking adults and their children; they are our seniors; they are our struggling families in the suburbs, in the country, in our cities; they are us. Read their stories here.
We, as a community, can help. And I hope we will.
This weekend, a team of kossacks will be posting diaries to help our hungry brothers and sisters. The series, Filling Empty Bowls: 36 Hours for Feeding America begins with this diary, and will continue until the wee hours of Monday morning.
We will help by raising money for Feeding America.
Feeding America is the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity.
Each year, the Feeding America network provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.
(Feeding America does this by assisting a network) of more than 200 food banks (that) serve all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.The Feeding America network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually.
Feeding America.
For every $1 you donate, Feeding America will provide 20 pounds of food and grocery products to men, women and children facing hunger in our country. At least 85% of donations go directly to funding foodbanks.
Feeding America Donation Page.
We've been hearing for some time now from community members who have lost jobs, homes, people who are counting on the services of local food banks where they live to feed themselves and their families. This problem, therefore, has a true face to many of us.
A little over a week ago, I posted adiary about the situaton here in Northern California, where drastic federal, state, and local budget cuts combined with the loss of a major local funder have wrecked havoc on the Marin County Food Bank. One of the richest counties in America is hardly immune to the blowback from the financial crisis.
Donate what you can to Feeding America. And hang out with us for awhile. Report in on what's happening where you live.
Refer back to noweasels diary, for an overview of the real life situation this past week in several communities across America.A few more reports from around the country:
Texas:
"New Haven Helping Hands is preparing for what many call a serious food shortage this season.
"There is a tremendous food storage," said New Haven Ministries Executive Director Jim Rhodes. "With the economy the way it is, we’re seeing a drastic increase in the number of families that qualify for our services."
New Haven Helping Hands, the only USDA certified provider in the county, helps provide groceries for 1,200 people per month throughout Palo Pinto County and Rhodes is concerned about their stock and availability to replenish through area food banks.
"We are not going to make it through the season without having more canned goods," he said.
They are in dire need of non-perishable canned foods like canned meat, canned vegetables and canned fruit.
Virginia
Virginia's seven regional food banks are teaming up with a Richmond lobbying firm to request $1 million in emergency funds from lawmakers in Richmond.
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Verona is stocking its shelves with an outpouring of holiday donations. "The shelves have definitely filled since the summer when we were suffering shortages," shared Food Bank Public Relations Officer Ruth Jones.
Even as donations come in, the food is flying off the shelves at record rates. "Everything is going out the door as quickly as it's coming in," Jones said.
In one month alone, 12,000 more people sought out meals from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank compared to the same time last year. "We're trying to keep up with the demand," said Jones. "So while the support has gone up, the demand has gone up as well."
[Feeding America http://feedingamerica.org/...
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Feeding America
Please read and recommend each of these diaries this weekend:
Saturday (ALL TIMES EASTERN)
5 p.m.: rb137
8 p.m.: JellyBearDemMom
10 p.m.: srkp23
OVERNIGHT: Kula2316
Sunday (ALL TIMES EASTERN)
10 or 11 a.m.: blue jersey mom
2 p.m.: DeviousPie
5 p.m.: Timroff
8 p.m.: Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
10 p.m.: blue jersey dad