One in six Americans do not have enough food. One in four of those are children. Food pantries all over the country are closing because they cannot meet the crushing demand -- their shelves are empty, and they are turning people away.
Diary #2 is up Feeding America #2: nutrition in schools, by teacherken.
Hunger in America is, among other ills, a failure of distribution. We produce enough food to feed everybody, yet more than 49 million do not have enough to eat. Recent numbers from the census bureau tell us that poverty is as high as it's been in 50 years, and it is still rising. Food banks now find that middle class families sometimes depend on emergency food to make ends meet. As winter approaches, we have to act. One in six of us are hungry.
Feeding America approaches hunger by creatively attacking wasteful errors in distribution: they take surplus food that is headed for the garbage, and reroute it to food pantries all over the nation. They are networked with grocery stores and restaraunts all over the country -- to intercept their garbage. Feeding America literally gathers millions of pounds of food that is headed to the trash each day, and redistributes it to food banks that need it.
That is why Feeding America can provide meals so cheaply: their overhead is small, and they usually do not buy the food they distribute. There are exceptions -- they buy food when there is a shortage of a particular nutrient, for example, after the peanut butter recall in 2009. Their biggest operating expense is running the trucks that move the food from place to place. That is why they can provide an average of 7 meals for every donated dollar. Less than 5% of the donated funds go to administrative costs and overhead.
Donating to Feeding America is one of the most efficient ways we can impact the food bank crisis. And because September is Hunger Awareness Month, Ameriprise Financial will match your donation $2 for every $1 you give through September 30.
In the meantime, please visit and enjoy the Feeding America diaries this weekend. The theme is Hunger Awareness, and the writers are spanning a range of topics -- the series will make for excellent reading. Our only regret is that our founding organizer noweasels had a last minute conflict and couldn't contribute a diary this weekend. Please be sure to tip and thank her in the comments of these diaries (I'm pretty sure she'll sneak in a comment here or there...) But she gets my special thanks; she is the hope and spirit behind this important diary series.
Now...
Action items!
Urgent: If you do one thing in response to this blogathon, please call (or email) House members about the Child Nutrition Bill -- and have them act before it expires on September 30. You can also use this quick action tool that asks them to strengthen the bill.
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 expired on September 30, 2009, and was extended until September 30, 2010. It is the 11th hour for our kids that have nothing to eat, and depend on their school lunch program for food.
During the 2009 federal fiscal year, 19.5 million children received free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. In the same year, only 2.2 million eligible children participated in the Summer Food Service Program.
If you have the means, please donate to Feeding America by clicking on the box to the right. They help hungry kids through their Backpack Program, the Kid's Cafe, and Magic Summer Lunchbox programs. Remember that Ameriprise Financial will match your donation two for one through September 30 -- which means that every dollar you donate results in 21 meals to hungry people.
Or...
Volunteer at your local food pantry or food bank. In 2008, Food Lifeline estimated that one hour of volunteer work was worth a $17 donation. Using that equivalence, an hour's work frees resources to provide one meal each to 294 people (includes matching funds from Ameriprise Financial.) Food has to be packed, loaded, shipped, checked for safety, sorted, and distributed. Sometimes there is office work, and other times there are jobs that nobody can predict. If there is a food recall, for example, the national inventory has to be checked against safety databases...
If you want to help volunteer at a pantry or soup kitchen, you can start by using this tool to find a foodbank. The listings here are distribution centers that serve foodbanks all over the nation. These contacts are a great place to call and find out who needs help -- or where there is a food pantry nearby if you need one.
Check with homeless advocacy groups such as National Coalition for the Homeless. You might find something local to you. They often need help, or odd things like duct tape, garbage bags, and clothing. Coats, boots, hats. It's a great way to downsize and get rid of stuff you never use. My last donation was disposable cups, bowls, paper plates, and a garbage bag full of men's clothes to a nearby tent city.
Look for a soup kitchen near you with this tool. They often need an extra hand, as well.
All times Eastern!
Saturday, Sept 25:
10:00a -- rb137
1:00p -- teacherken
4:00p -- Patriot Daily
7:00p -- srkp23
10:00p -- boatsie
Owls -- Jay in Portland
Sunday, Sept 26
10:00a -- JanF
1:00p -- Aji
4:00p -- Timroff
7:00p -- Chacounne
10:00p -- blue jersey mom