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.

Priya recently called the National Hunger Hotline from Los Angeles, California interested in starting a Summer Feeding Site through the USDA's Summer Food Service Program. Summer Feeding Sites provide food to school aged children who would otherwise go without consistent meals during the summer months.

Priya is a longtime supporter of local community initiatives and stresses the importance of volunteer work to her sixth grade daughter. The young girl often accompanies her mother to serve food at the soup kitchen and helps to collect food for local food pantries. Priya informed the Hotline advocate that she believed all children should get involved in their local community and the Summer Food Service Program is an ideal way to do it. This summer Priya and her daughter will be hosting a Summer Feeding Site in their neighborhood that will provide one meal and one snack, once a week.

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.    

Summer brings the highest rates of childhood hunger in the U.S., with more children going without adequate nutrition, skipping meals and eating less food than during the school year. 

WhyHunger partners with the USDA to ensure that more children and their families have access to free, nutritious food during the summer months by registering and promoting the Summer Food Service Program through an online database and the National Hunger Hotline 1-866-3 HUNGRY  (1-866-348-6479). Once a site is registered, it's accessible to the thousands of Hotline callers and online visitors looking to find summer meals for their children.

Registering your summer feeding site is easy!

• You can add your information directly to the online database here: NHC Join.

• If you are a sponsor organization with multiple feeding sites, please fill out the Excel file located on the  Summer Food Service Program  website and then email the file to NHC@whyhunger.org. We will upload your list to the database, so you don't have to enter each site manually. Please make sure you include the name of the feeding site, address (especially the zip code) and a phone number in each entry.

• If your site has volunteer opportunities, register them with End Childhood Hunger.

If you have questions about the Hotline or need help registering, please email NHC@whyhunger.org or call us at 1-866-3-HUNGRY.

Help spread the word! We have promotional materials for the Hotline, including posters and web banners available here. Don't forget, WhyHunger's National Hunger Hotline 1-866-3 HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) and www.whyhunger.org/findfood refer people in need of emergency food assistance to food pantries and government nutrition programs across the country year round!

Thank you for the work that you do each summer to feed hungry children! Together we can increase participation in this vital program.

Unity 2012 

We had the opportunity to attend the Feeding America Unity 2012 conference in April at the invitation of our partners, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. It was wonderful to hear from so many Executive Directors and leaders of food banks about their successes and challenges. Five recurring themes stood out:

• The leadership at many food banks is greying: many people referred to themselves as having "over 20 years in the business" or nearing the retirement age. Food bankers also worry that volunteers at food pantries (agencies) are aging, which raises questions about efficiency and distribution. But a change in leadership also means new ideas and energy. In general, food bankers these days seem more willing to discuss healthier food sourcing and collaboration.

• A workshop on food sourcing elaborated on Feeding America's work to increase fresh produce sourcing. These efforts are focused mainly on the "hard seven" (cabbage, apples, potatoes, carrots, organges, onions, and sweet potatoes) because they are more durable. Sourcing of leafy greens and other produce needs to happen at the local level, which is why local leadership needs to commit to this goal and sharing strategies is critical to implementation.  

• Nutrition is increasingly being seen as the means to broaden the conversation and work of food banks. A pilot project used food banks as intervention sites for people with diabetes and more people are talking about the quality-- rather than quantity-- of food distributed in general.

• All of us are all being inundated with information and we want that information to be distilled. The need for a hub of information and best practices was referred to.

• Having a sense of humor about oneself helps when doing this kind of work. Instead of the usual conference entertainment, some of the participants lovingly poked fun with Saturday Night Live-inspired skits about headquarters staff and objectives for the conference.

Like many good conferences, Unity 2012 brought new ideas, questions, and new connections-- the participants really did Refresh, Remember, and Renew.

 From Hunger to Health  

Erik Talkin, CEO of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, has a new blog called From Hunger into Health. He shares the "story of how one organization on the inside of the 'hunger business' is trying to redefine what a food bank can achieve in transforming the health of our communities through good nutrition." In his latest post, he interviews author, scholar, and WhyHunger board member Jan Poppendieck about food banking, nutrition, and visions for the future.

Under Bright Lights: A View of a Meat Processing Plant  

As part of the School Food FOCUS National Gathering last week, I had the opportunity to visit a meat processing plant called Quantum Foods. FOCUS works to transform school food by supporting more healthful, regional and sustainable solutions- including a recent victory of getting 1.2 million pounds of antibiotic-free chicken into Chicago Public Schools.  

Read more at: Under Bright Lights.  

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The  6th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference: Digging In! is now accepting scholarship applications! The application deadline is May 31, and award notifications will be made on June 18. In addition to scholarships, a limited number of volunteer positions are also available. Visit the conference website for more information or to fill out an application. Conference registration will open May 7.

The conference will bring representatives from all sectors of Farm to Cafeteria to Burlington, Vermont August 2-5 for four days of education, conversations, and fun. There will be skill-building short courses, field trips to innovative Vermont farms and institutions, a diverse workshop program, and plenty of opportunities to network with inspiring individuals from across the country.

Tom's of Maine 50 States for Good initiative supports grassroots organizations throughout the country working to do good in their communities. In 2012, the program will provide five grants of $20,000 and one grant of $50,000 to nonprofit organizations in order to help them enhance their community projects. Eligible projects must have a positive impact on the community in one of the following areas: Environmental Goodness, Healthy Goodness, or Human Goodness. A review panel of leaders from around the country selects up to 51 finalists. Information on these finalists will then be posted on the Tom's of Maine website in September so that the public can vote for which six projects should be awarded funding. Visit the company's website to learn more about this program and submit an online application. The deadline to apply is June 12, 2012.

Share Our Strength is happy to announce 200 grants to help organizations in the No Kid Hungry and Ally States (see eligibility on grant page) begin or grow the number of Shopping Matters® tours in their community. Shopping Matters is a facilitator-led, interactive grocery store tour that helps low income families learn four key food shopping and budgeting skills to make the most of their limited food resources: reading food labels, comparing unit prices, buying fruits and vegetables on a budget, and identifying whole grains.

A variety of organizations can offer Shopping Matters tours including: state or community WIC programs, SNAP education, Head Start Associations, school districts, and Cooperative Extension programs. Grantees can use the funds to increase participation rates, address barriers to implementation, and garner community support by: purchasing gift cards for participants, providing transportation or childcare to participants, supplementing staff time, buying additional resources, printing or creating promotional material, and reaching out to press and media.

To view grant requirements and eligibility, please visit www.cookingmatters.org/shoppingmattersgrants. The link to access the application is located at the bottom of the webpage. The deadline to apply is June 13, 2012.

If you have any questions, please email cookingmattersgrants@strength.org.

It's that time of year again! WhyHunger is looking to honor, support and celebrate the leading U.S.-based grassroots organizations working to transform their communities through healthy food access and social and economic justice.  Applications are now available for the 2013 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards.  Recipients receive cash awards of up to $10,000, are honored at the annual WhyHunger Chapin Awards Dinner in New York City and are invited to attend a networking day with current and past winners! 

Tell us how your organization is making an impact! The deadline to apply is June 29, 2012. 

CLICK HERE for more information, guidelines and a downloadable Microsoft Word application.  

For further questions call 212.629.3227 or email hcrsa@whyhunger.org. 

Be sure to check out the 2012 winners on our blog!

The Meals On Wheels Research Foundation (MOWRF) recently released two important documents. The first is a new research report by Drs. Ziliak and Gundersen entitled Senior Hunger in America 2010: An Annual Report, which evaluates the state of senior hunger in America using the most recent data available. The second document is the Senior Hunger Report Card™ (Report Card). The Report Card is based on MOWRF's independent evaluation of the nation's performance in reducing food insecurity and eradicating senior hunger, based on the findings of the new research report.

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