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.

Mary, an octogenarian from Los Angeles, received the number for the National Hunger Hotline from a census worker who told her to call if she ever needed help finding food. A month later, she called and left a message: "I'm 85 years old and I ain't got nothing in the house to eat. Please call me back!"  

When the Hotline advocate returned her call, Mary burst into tears, explaining that she lived alone and had a brace on her neck, so she wasn't able to leave her house to get food. The Hotline advocate provided Mary with phone numbers for Meals on Wheels, several local food pantries and the local food bank, which has a brown bag program that delivers groceries to seniors.

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.    

Cooking Up Community Feedback

In July, we released Cooking Up Community: Nutrition Education in Emergency Food Programs. We've heard from academics, nutrition educators and food banks that are using the guide to strengthen an existing program or to create a new program. We'd like to hear your feedback. Please fill out this brief survey to let us know if the guide has been helpful and if there is a resource we should include next time: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGJ2YjdaYXJzaWJIMWwtbnVTYU1EVmc6MQ. 

Three people who complete the survey by December 15th, 2012 will be selected at random to receive a free WhyHunger t-shirt.

Download the executive summary or the full report at www.whyhunger.org/cookingupcommunity.

 Understanding D-SNAP

After a disaster, the government plays a large role in making sure that the people affected are fed. First, the President must declare a state of emergency, authorizing the use of federal funds for relief efforts. Then, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which administers the nation's domestic nutrition assistance programs, such as SNAP (food stamps) and the National School Lunch Program, is able to provide two types of disaster assistance: USDA Foods and the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP).

USDA Foods are commodity foods that can be used for congregate feeding or household distribution. Congregate feeding usually takes place in settings like emergency shelters or soup kitchens; the commodity food that the government provides is cooked and served to people who were affected by the disaster. Less often, commodity foods are distributed for household use, but this generally happens only when congregate feeding or the use of food stamps are not practical, such as in remote or isolated areas, or if commercial channels of food distribution have been interrupted and people are not able to buy food at grocery stores with their SNAP benefits.

The Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) offers short-term food assistance benefits to families suffering in the wake of a disaster. In order for people in a disaster area to receive D-SNAP, the President must first issue a disaster declaration of Individual Assistance. Then, state agencies request FNS approval to operate D-SNAP for a limited period of time (typically 7 days), and once this approval is given, individuals who live in the affected states, counties, or zip codes may apply for benefits.

The benefit to D-SNAP is that is it is relatively quick, efficient and flexible. The application process is simplified and people who are eligible receive a month's worth of benefits on their EBT cards within 72 hours, allowing them to purchase food at most grocery stores. Families who are not normally eligible for SNAP may qualify for D-SNAP as a result of their disaster-related expenses, such as loss of income, damage to property, relocation expenses, or loss of food due to power outages. Additionally, households who receive less than the monthly maximum amount for SNAP can request the maximum level of benefits in times of disaster.

Please click here to view the rest of this article, which originally appeared on WhyHunger's Connect blog.

On the Front Lines - Every Day  

When I caught up with Reverend Ann Kansfield on Wednesday afternoon, she was just about to begin preparations for that evening's community dinner. Despite its location just a block away from the flooded evacuation zone, Greenpoint Reformed Church fared well during Hurricane Sandy. The small church, which operates one of the only soup kitchens and food pantries in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, serves 6,000 people each month and did not flood or lose power through the storm. I asked Pastor Ann how they were able to bounce back to serve the community so quickly after Hurricane Sandy had crippled much of the Eastern Seaboard, and she credited her volunteers: "We already have local boots on the ground because we do this 365 days a year. We have a great volunteer force and a good reputation in the neighborhood."

Using Facebook and Twitter-both major means of communication especially after the hurricane-Ann coordinated volunteers for a special delivery from the Food Bank for NYC at 7:30am on Thursday morning. Because Hurricane Sandy prevented the Food Bank's normal Tuesday delivery, volunteers had to quickly pack hundreds of bags of food to distribute to community members at noon.

The Greenpoint Reformed Church has also secured a grant from the United Church of Christ to hire someone to work scheduled hours helping community members apply for replacement SNAP (food stamp) benefits. Many people who receive SNAP benefits and lost perishable food due to flooding or power outage do not know that replacement SNAP benefits are available to them, nor do they know how to how to claim them. Pastor Ann says that because "getting to the HRA [Human Resources Administration] office can be difficult with the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] shutdown, and the line at the office is long, our plan is to provide the forms here, along with help completing and faxing them to the HRA office...This sort of outreach is possible for other churches and community organizations."

Pastor Ann and I spoke about some of the challenges and needs of the soup kitchen and food pantry this week, such as uncertain food deliveries and securing childcare so she could work this week. She also mentioned that she now sees the importance of having things like a generator for the refrigerator or a chainsaw for clearing away fallen trees, but she also made it very clear that the best way to help emergency food providers and the clients they serve is not through canned food drives, but continuous financial support.

Emergency food providers play an indispensable role after natural disasters, which have a disproportionate effect on people with little or no savings. The New York Times reported that earlier this week, nearly 7% of the U.S. population was without electricity due to Hurricane Sandy. Many people who are already suffering from lost income will have difficulty affording the food to replace what spoiled in their refrigerators and freezers. Many of the food pantries and food banks that serve them were also hit hard by the storm and will need financial help to recover.

As an advocate on Why Hunger's National Hunger Hotline, I am acutely aware of the impact that natural disasters have on hunger. This week, we've received calls from people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Back in August, I heard from people in Louisiana who were hit hard by Hurricane Isaac, and earlier in the summer, I responded to calls from people who had been displaced by the wildfires in Colorado. These Hotline calls, however, are greatly eclipsed by the number of calls we receive on a regular basis throughout the year from people all over the country who are struggling to feed their families. Hunger is at an all-time high in this country and around the world, and natural disasters exacerbate and highlight this. The crisis of hunger and poverty is still ongoing, so when Hurricane Sandy begins to fade from the news reports, it's important that our support of the emergency food providers and grassroots organizations who are leading the movement to end hunger does not fade as well.

Click here to learn more about supporting our grassroots partners after Hurricane Sandy and here to learn more about supporting the Greenpoint Reformed Church Hunger Program.

For more information about applying for emergency SNAP benefits, call your state's SNAP Hotline.

UPDATE 11/6/2012:

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service has approved the mass replacement of SNAP benefits to households in many of the counties and zip codes affected by Hurricane Sandy. Current SNAP recipients in these areas will automatically receive a portion of their monthly allotment on their EBT (Electronic Balance Transfer) cards and do not need to request a replacement or submit paperwork, unless they are requesting a full replacement of benefits. Those who do not currently receive SNAP benefits but are entitled to Disaster-SNAP benefits will still need to apply. For more information on which counties will automatically receive benefits, click here.

This article originally appeared on WhyHunger's Connect blog.

Earlier this fall, FRAC held an Afterschool Meals Back-to-School webinar to discuss strategies to implement and increase participation in the Afterschool Meal Program. This archived webinar is now available on FRAC's website, along with webinars on other school nutrition topics.

For more information on running a successful Afterschool Meals program, we recommend FRAC's Afterschool Meals Guide, which is meant to be a resource for afterschool programs, CACFP sponsors, state agencies and anti-hunger advocates. The guide addresses eligibility requirements, reducing administrative barriers and ideas for promotion and outreach. FNS has also updated At-Risk Afterschool Meals: A Child and Adult Care Food Program Handbook to reflect best practices and changes in nutrition requirements.

Food Safety in Case of Emergency

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy highlights the importance of both emergency preparedness and food safety after the occurrence a natural disaster. This guide from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Food Safety in Case of Emergency, provides hints on how to build an emergency food supply and how to evaluate the safety of foods following power outages, winter storms, floods and fires.

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