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Food for Thought...

Greetings!

 

Welcome Friends & Supporters! 

 

Imagine yourself having to say these words:

 

 "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more."  

 

"We just couldn't afford to buy food to prepare balanced meals."  

 

"We relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed our children, because we were running out of money to buy food."

 

How frightening it is to be slipping into these realities that are summed up in the phrase, "food insecurity."  Recently the USDA released its Food Insecurity Data for 2011, determining how often people fell into such circumstances.  The frequency of such need determines whether they are food insecure or experiencing low or very low food security.  The numbers were consistent with what we have experienced in San Luis Obispo County with our data from Food Bank distribution records, quarterly reports from our agencies, and the Hunger Free Communities Survey conducted for the Food Bank by STRIDE of Cal Poly in 2011.

 

We imagine with trepidation what will happen if the state and federal governments cut human services even further than they have already.  While our county and city leaders have done their best and continue to keep charitable outreach at previous levels, the state has already cut back severely and the federal government through the Farm Bill is on the brink of slashing Food Stamp support (now called CalFresh in California) to those in need and reducing dramatically the amount of food provided to Food Banks such as ours to distribute to food insecure persons in oru county, over 40% of whom are children.  

   

Carl Hansen, Executive Director 

USDA - Food Insecurity Data for 2011
Harvest Bag      

In summary, food security and low food security rates are about the same as 2010.  But rates of very low food security (i.e., eating patterns for one or more household members was disrupted due to insufficient food resources) increased from 5.4 percent in 2010 to 5.7 percent of the total population in 2011.  The prevalence of food insecurity in California is greater than the national average. The national average over the three year period is 14.7 percent; California's average is 16.2 percent.  We at the Food Bank now experience San Luis Obispo County to be about 15%, while it was around 11% prior to the Recession. 

 

Click here for the full report.  

 

Regardless of your political point of view, we encourage you to contact your representatives in California to not support any more reductions in social services, and in Washington D.C. to maintain full support for federal programs of food aid to food insecure persons, especially the Farm Bill which is in the midst of negotiations at this moment. 

 

Federal Representatives for our county:

US Senator Barbara Boxer

Email: boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm 

Phone: (202)224-3553 or (213)894-5000

US Senator Dianne Feinstein 

Email: feinstein.senate.gov/email.html 

Phone: (202)224-3841

Representative Kevin McCarthy

5805 Capistrano Ave. Ste C, Atascadero

Phone: (805)461-1034 or (805)549-0390

Representative Lois Capps

1411 Marsh St, Suite 205, San Luis Obispo

Phone: (805)546-8348

 

California Legislators for our county:

Senator Sam Blakeslee

1104 Palm St. San Luis Obispo

Phone: (805) 549-3784

Assemblyman K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian

1150 Osos St., Ste 207, San Luis Obispo 

Phone: (805) 549-3381

Hunger Walk & Zoo Animals!
Zoo to You Hunger Walk   
Need an incentive to join the 2012 Hunger Walk? Well, we have one for you! Zoo To You is an incredible organization that brings a variety of wild animals to schools along with lessons about their care and place in the ecosystem. 
 
Zoo To You has generously donated a school presentation to the child who brings in the most donations for the Hunger Walk. We encourage you to talk with teachers and principals of elementary schools in your area about this prize and encourage children participation in the Hunger Walk. Click for more information on Zoo To You
Food Bank Coalition of SLO County

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In This Issue
USDA Food Insecurity
Hunger Walk
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Paso Warehouse
2212 Golden Hill Rd. 
P: (805) 238-4664 
F: (805) 238-6956

Oceano Warehouse 
1820 Railroad Rd. 
P: (805) 481-4652 
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Hunger Facts 

2011 need was the highest ever

 

1 in 6 reach out for help. 

 

400,000 incidents of service were reported in 2011. 

 

Every $1 donated provides $10 worth of food.

SFSP 

40% of Food Bank recipients are under the age of 18. 

 

Produce at Distribution 

Did you know that 47% of what we distribute is fresh produce? 

 

Hunger Walk  

 

The Triplets  

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