NEWS

The National Hunger Hotline (NHH), a service of WhyHunger's National Hunger Clearinghouse, provides real-time referrals for people in need across the U.S. to emergency food and assistance programs. Receiving an average of 700 calls per month, the NHH is a portal to information, assistance, and resources, ultimately empowering families and individuals to meet their vital needs including fresh, healthy food. In Stories from the Hotline, we share some of the experiences of callers and our efforts to support them.

Recently, we heard from Mrs. John who called the Hotline looking for assistance in providing food for her family for the next 30 to 60 days.  Her husband, a veteran of the Iraq War was discharged from the military over two months ago for a medical disability stemming from his time in the service.  As the primary bread winner for the family, Mrs. J.'s husband's loss of employment left the family sitting in limbo while they waited for their application for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) to be approved - a process that can take up to two months.

An NHH Advocate was able to provide Mrs. John with a referral to a KidsCafe in her community, where children receive dinner meals, as well as a mobile pantry sponsored by the regional food bank. The advocate also provided referrals to local pantries and the contact information to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which assists in paying utility bills.

The National Hunger Hotline 1-866-3 HUNGRY and 1-877-8 HAMBRE (1-866-348-6479 and 1-877-842-6273) refers people in need of emergency food assistance to food pantries, government programs, and model grassroots organizations that work to improve access to healthy, nutritious food, and build self-reliance. Help is available on Monday through Friday from 9am-6pm EST. Hablamos español. The Hotline is funded in part by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.    

WhyHunger's National Hunger Hotline was featured by CharitySub, a subscription service that educates donors on a particular issue each month and features three organizations working to make a difference on that issue. Jessica Powers, Director of the National Hunger Clearinghouse, appeared in a video about the Hotline.

 

STATE OF AFFAIRS 

Protecting SNAP 

In an increasingly malicious political debate about critical work support programs in a battered economy, our nation's most vulnerable are threatened by numerous proposals, such as increasing asset tests that penalize personal savings, ending Unemployment Insurance, reducing the number of poor families that can claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, and actions such as denying benefits to American born children of undocumented parents. WhyHunger's Director of Programs, Alison Cohen, submitted the following letter to the editor in response to the Wall Street Journal article "Food Stamp Nation" published on January 20, 2012.  

The Wall Street Journal's article "The Food Stamp Nation" is successful only in spreading misconceptions about the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  Instead of relying on the hard data that tells the full story of SNAP as a critical support for millions of working Americans and a tool for economic recovery, the Wall Street Journal spills ink to take jabs at the White House and throws its support behind Gingrich's error-filled campaign rhetoric.

The fact that SNAP enrollment has increased during an economic recession indicates that this nearly 50-year old assistance program is doing what it was designed to do - increase the food purchasing power of struggling households in order to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.  And by doing so, SNAP is one of the best economic multipliers out there.  According to Moody's, food stamps rank number one as an economic stimulus provision. For every $1.00 in SNAP, $1.73 returns to the economy. USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates that each $1 billion of retail demand by SNAP generates $340 million in farm production, $110 million in farm value-added, and 3,300 farm jobs.  By comparison, corporate tax cuts have a multiplier effect of only 30 cents on the dollar.

And as a political argument used to sway the public, Gingrich and others might do well to first consider the opinion of voters before calling for a reduction in SNAP funding.  Polling data released today by the reputable Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) shows that across party lines "77% of voters say cutting food stamps is the wrong way to reduce spending and only 15 % favor cutting such assistance."

In contrast to the Wall Street Journal's characterization of SNAP as an entitlement creating further dependence on the government, the work support program is helping hungry children (40 percent of SNAP beneficiaries) and seniors (9 percent), supports low-wage workers in making ends meet, and assures that families are financially better off working than on welfare, all the while creating economic stimulus in a time of prolonged economic recession.  

RESOURCES

Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Introductory Webinars

USDA provides a free or reduced-priced lunch to 22 million children during the school year. But once school lets out for summer break, only about 2.5 million children receive a meal (about 1 in 10). Children are at a higher risk of going hungry during the summer months. There is work to be done to help feed more kids nutritious meals during the summer and you can help.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) can help to fill the summer meal gap for low-income children. Faith-based, community and private non-profit organizations can make a difference in the lives of hungry children by serving meals with SFSP, a federally funded program administered by States that reimburses organizations for meals served to children during the summer. Schools, churches, recreation centers, playgrounds, parks, and camps can serve meals in neighborhoods with high percentages of low-income families. These are safe and familiar locations where children naturally congregate during the summer.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is offering free webinar sessions on the Summer Food Service Program, so you can learn more about the need, the program, and how you can help. The sessions will review the Summer Food Service Program, cover resources and tools available to help you get started, highlight successful programs and outreach practices from around the country, and will conclude with an open question and answer period with USDA FNS staff.

To learn more about the SFSP, please register to participate in an upcoming free webinar session:

Thursday, February 16, 2012: 2 - 3pm EST  Especially for: African-American Serving Organizations

Thursday, February 23, 2012: 3 - 4pm EST - Public Session

Tuesday, February 28, 2012: 2 - 3pm EST  Especially for: Latino Serving Organizations

Wednesday, February 29, 2012: 2 - 3pm EST  Especially for: Faith-Based Organizations

Thursday, March 8, 2012: 3 - 4pm EST - Public Session

Tuesday, March 13, 2012: 11am - 12pm EST - Public Session

Wednesday, March 21, 2012: 1 - 2pm EST - Public Session

Tuesday, March 27, 2012: 4 - 5pm EST - Public Session

Registration Link   

To learn more about the Summer Food Service Program, please visit USDA Summer Food Service Program.

Fighting SNAP Fraud

Most Americans support helping struggling families put food on the table but they want to know that taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. Correcting mistakes, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse so that Federal dollars are used wisely is not just a top priority for this Administration, it is common sense. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is actively working on behalf of American taxpayers to protect the Federal investment in SNAP and make sure the program is targeted towards those families who need it the most. To further this effort, FNS focuses on four key areas of oversight: Reducing Improper Payments and Errors, Pursuing Recipient Fraud, Combating Abuse and Misuse of Benefits, and Pursuing Retailer Fraud.

Click here, to learn more about these issues and report suspicious activities.

La Mesa Completa

  

FNS works with State Agencies to provide food assistance and nutrition education to low-income families.  Despite efforts to reach those in need, low-income Latino households remain underserved in accessing federal nutrition programs. Latinos also experience higher rates of food insecurity and obesity, which can be combated with access to nutrition programs and good nutrition education. 

FNS needs your help to make sure that the Latino community has access to nutrition assistance. The resources on this website include materials in both English and Spanish that should help enable organizations to offer food and nutrition education - as well as information about nutrition assistance programs - to those they serve.  FNS hopes you will use these tools to help meet the nutrition needs of our nation's diverse Latino community.

Share and Find "Promising Practices"  

Six years ago, as part of the National Food Stamp Outreach Committee, WhyHunger advocated for a means to share successful outreach strategies. FNS took the suggestion and began sharing "promising practices." Promising practices are useful tips shared between individuals with common goals. To encourage this kind of sharing among FNS program users, advocates, and operators, they created a new Promising Practices webpage. On this new webpage, you can submit your promising practices using an easy online form that does not require any downloading, printing, or emailing. 

If you or your organization has a particular outreach strategy that has increased program participation and/or improved program delivery of any FNS program in your community, then please take a few minutes to fill out the online form and click submit. FNS looks for promising practices for any one of the many FNS programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and Food Distribution on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).

School Breakfast Scorecard 

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) released an annual report which finds that less than half (48.2 percent) of low-income children who receive school lunch also receive breakfast. Participation grew rapidly in states and school districts that adopted widespread breakfast in the classroom programs, such as District of Columbia, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Click here, to view the report.   

It's Dinnertime: A Report on Low-Income Families' Efforts to Plan, Shop for, and Cook Healthy Meals

Share Our Strength's Cooking Matters recently surveyed low-income parents across the country about their cooking habits and shared the results. Key findings include:

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

EAT4Health

Healthy Breakfast-4-Kids 

Awesome Food Grants 

CONFERENCES

Just Food Conference 2012: Eat. Work. Grow the Movement. (NY) 

 Just Food is a non-profit organization that connects communities and local farms with the resources and support they need to make fresh, locally grown food accessible to all New Yorkers. The Just Food Conference 2012: Eat. Work. Grow The Movement will be held on February 24 and 25, 2012. This Conference will feature a series of workshops along with an EXPO and Good Food Jobs Fair. To view the schedule, please visit Just Food.

National Hunger Free Communities Summit (DC) 

The Alliance to End Hunger will host its Second Annual National Hunger Free Communities Summit on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. This is a free event. To register, click here.  

National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference (DC) 

Registration is open for the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference from February 26-28, 2012 at the Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C. The event is co-sponsored by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and Feeding America, in cooperation with the National CACFP Forum.

Learn more at Anti-Hunger Policy Conference.

I love your newsletter, and wanted to take the opportunity to share a talk I gave in November about using farmer's markets as food hubs for connecting farm fresh produce with organizations that feed the hungry. 

Thanks for sharing this engaging talk and innovative model. - Ed.

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The Access Food Pantry Network is a collaborative comprised of 75 food pantries within Kent County, Michigan that together serves nearly 20,000 individuals per month. Within the varied services that each pantry provides there is a unified and strong theme of the value of empowerment and dignity for the individuals and families served. This belief is lived out via the Food Assistance Program (FAP) Outreach that is conducted at each of the Pantry Resource Centers in Kent County. An Outreach Coordinator helps a pantry user to apply for a FAP account (commonly known as 'food stamps') and ensures that the pantry user knows how the application and approval process works.

When individuals are approved for a FAP account they are able to purchase their own groceries with an amount of money suited to their family size and need. The Access Food Pantry Network believes that the choice and ability to purchase food is a basic right that all people have and vital to low income and impoverished individuals as they build assets and take ownership of their resources.

In 2011, the Access FAP Outreach Coordinator was able to submit 271 FAP applications to the Kent County Department of Human Services office, an average of 22.6 applications submitted monthly. 82.7%, of the FAP applications were approved. With an average 12 month certification period for these cases, this potentially represents $501,120 federal FAP benefits per year brought into Kent County by Access FAP Outreach. This large amount of money creates economic opportunity locally and gives the recipient management over their spending and allocation of resources. The FAP Outreach Program not only empowers pantry users but also brings collaboration to the forefront of the fight against hunger as varying organizations come together to meet the basic needs of our at-risk community members.   

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In response to "Education, Accessibility and Healthy Foods: Keys to giving infants a good nutritious start," the WIC Program encourages and promotes breastfeeding as the ideal form of infant feeding. WIC breastfeeding support and promotion includes breastfeeding counseling and educational materials, along with follow-up support through breastfeeding peer counselors. WIC has made program changes to increase breastfeeding rates among participants and participated in the USDA campaign to improve public acceptance. Some notable events include: * In 2004, WIC initiated its highly successful breastfeeding peer counselor program. * In 2009, additional changes to the food package provided further incentive for mothers to exclusively breastfeed, providing an enhanced food [package] with more food for the mother and significantly more solid food for the infant after 6 months than the other food packages. * WIC breastfeeding moms are eligible to participate in WIC six months longer than WIC non-breastfeeding mothers and may receive breastfeeding aids such as breast pumps. * WIC encourages infant father support of breastfeeding, engaging fathers in meaningful breastfeeding support activities. It has been found that: * Between 1998 and 2010, WIC breastfeeding rates increased by 21.6%, from 41.5% to 63.1%. * Women who participate in WIC's breastfeeding support activities have longer durations of breastfeeding and are less likely to stop breastfeeding. * Women who report knowing about the breastfeeding food package are almost twice as likely to breastfeed as those who do not know about it. * Women who receive advice to breastfeed are more likely to breastfeed than those who do not receive advice: 64% of WIC mothers recall hearing breastfeeding advice compared to 39% of mothers who heard breastfeeding advice from their physicians. Social, cultural, physical, time, and medical barriers may discourage mothers from breastfeeding. Data shows that low-income mothers are less likely to breastfeed in general due to time barriers and lack of support for overcoming breastfeeding obstacles. That is where WIC plays a significant role in promoting breastfeeding as the ideal form of infant feeding and supports mothers in their choice to breastfeed. Without WIC, it is very likely that fewer low-income mothers would breastfeed. For infants of mothers who are unable or choose not to breastfeed for various reasons, WIC provides supplemental infant formula, an alternative to breastmilk. Assuring that infants have adequate nutrition is most important at the end of the day.

-    Rev. Douglas A. Greenaway, National WIC Association

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