Stories from the National Hunger Hotline: Kids Call, Too
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The National Hunger Hotline (NHH), a service of WhyHunger's National Hunger Clearinghouse, provides real-time referrals for people in need across the US to emergency food and assistance programs. 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.
"National Hunger Hotline, how can I help you?" "Hi, I, um, I got this sheet at my school, and I was wondering where we could maybe get food or something... I dunno," a nervous young voice asks. "Sure, like a summer feeding site?" "I guess, I just, I dunno, somewhere where me and my brother can go get food. My mom's at work and we're hungry." "Alright, sure thing, can I get your zip code?" "Umm...Tommy what's our zip code?" he asks with a sense of urgency. Some shuffling takes place before another boy's voice returns to the phone. "Um, we don't know our zip code." I look at the caller ID. "Do you guys live in Las Vegas?" "Yeah, we live on Tropicana Avenue," he says. In the background, the first boy warns about giving addresses out to strangers. "Shut up!" The second boy apologizes, "Sorry, my brother was being annoying. The school said there's lunch places. They gave us these sheets with your phone number." "Ok, let me see if I can find your zip code on Google." After doing a quick search I find it, and plug it into the WhyHunger database. "So, it looks like there are some places, but they might be far away, so just tell me if you hear anything you recognize." "It's alright, we have bikes." "Great! There's a site at Arnold Middle School on West Hot Springs, Harrison Elementary on Torrey Pines, and --" "Oh, Harrison? Yeah, we know them; my brother goes to school there. Mikey, how come you didn't know the program was at your school?" Mikey mumbles something that sounds like "I dunno." "So we can just go there or what?" "Oh, great! Well, yes, it's an open site and it says they are serving lunch from eleven to twelve-thirty Monday to Friday, so if you leave now --" "Ok great! Thanks! Bye." 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 espaņol. The Hotline is funded in part by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
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Join with other anti-hunger advocates, key allies, and food banks from across the country to engage in meaningful dialogue around our role in achieving resilient community food systems.
Food banks and hunger relief organizations are feeling the tangible strain on resources as they work harder to meet the growing demand, using the same day-by-day strategies that have been used for decades. And yet, food banks are uniquely positioned to be hubs of resilient community food systems that provide long-term access to healthy food for all people. Some food banks are already emerging as leaders in the national movement to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, and have expanded their scope to include activities like nutrition education, community organizing, policy advocacy, economic development, and supporting local food production. Momentum is building in the hunger relief sector to move towards these new strategies as part of a strategic shift in how food banks serve their communities. For these reasons, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is hosting a conference to bring together food banks and hunger relief organizations from around the country to engage in meaningful dialogue around our role in achieving resilient food systems, share practical strategies, build a collective vision, and move towards a unified agenda in closing the hunger gap in America.
This event takes place September 18-20, 2013
in Tucson, Arizona. To register, go here.
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SNAP Advocacy Resource Roundup
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Last month, the Texas Food Bank Network unveiled a new website, StopTheHungerClock.org, to bring public awareness to the time remaining -- 77 days as of August 15th -- until major funding cuts reduce SNAP (food stamp) benefits to every household in America. The 2009 Recovery Act provided a temporary boost to SNAP benefits in an effort to help hungry families during the harsh recession, but this is scheduled to end on November 1, 2013. These cuts come much earlier than originally intended because in 2010, Congress opted to fund education jobs, Medicaid, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act by taking funds from SNAP.
These cuts will likely cause hardship for SNAP participants, who include 22 million children and 9 million people who are elderly or have a serious disability. For families of four, the cut will be $36 a month -- a total of $396 for November 2013 through September 2014, the remaining months of fiscal year 2014. It will be the equivalent of taking away 21 meals per month for a family of four, based on calculations using $1.70 to $2 as the cost per meal.
Altogether, the total cut is estimated to be $5 billion in fiscal year 2014. Let's put this in perspective: the USDA provides $114 billion of food per year through their nutrition programs, whereas emergency food providers provide hungry people with about $5 billion of food. Bread for the World's infographic depicts this as one in every 24 bags of groceries. As Joel Berg, executive director of New York City Coalition Against Hunger, put it, the $5 billion cut "makes it as if every single emergency food provider in the United States didn't exist."
Those following the Food and Farm Bill are aware that deeper cuts to SNAP may be on the way before the current law expires on September 30th. Congress is in recess through the first week of September, which makes this a crucial time for anti-hunger advocates to engage with your legislators.
Here is a round-up of helpful resources:
- Interactive information and resources on the growth of Suburban Poverty from the Brookings Institute to help make the case that hunger and poverty impact more communities than expected.
- Information on upcoming benefit cuts from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, including suggestions for preparation.
- Listings of State Fair dates, many of which happen in August and are attended by members of Congress.
- Accountable Congress, a resource from the partisan group Americans United for Change, which lists events that Republican Senators and Representatives are attending.
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The Pod Knowledge Exchange, Reloaded!
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Introducing the Pod Knowledge Exchange, the new and improved incarnation of the Community Food Centres Canada online Learning Network. The Pod features the same great community food security resources, now with improved presentation, navigation and discoverability. From tips on how to engage community garden volunteers to best practices for developing a healthy food procurement policy for your drop-in meals and guides for evaluating the impacts of your programs, The Pod is your one-stop shop for program, organizational and issues-based resources related to community food security programming. It's also a place where you can find out about the great work Community Food Centres and other organizations are doing across Canada. Join now -- it's free! -- and share it with your friends and colleagues!
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Food and Nutrition Coalition Launches New Website
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The Food and Nutrition Coalition (FNC), a growing group of over 600 individuals and organizations, is committed to working together to ensure that every American has consistent access to safe, healthy and nutritious meals from a sustainable and just food system.
The history of today's FNC can be traced back to an organization that originated within the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA) as a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach effort in 2008. This original Coalition focused on successful outreach strategies used by state agencies, non-profit organizations and foundations in an effort to assist eligible citizens in registering for SNAP benefits.
Today, "the new" Coalition (FNC) is an independent coalition. No longer under the direction of the USDA, today's coalition is uniquely positioned to effectively address the complex factors that have led to hunger in America.
Click here to register and join the coalition. As a member, you will be able to receive new updates and use the website to:
- Blog about about your organization's efforts to fight hunger and food insecurity.
- Join or start a Committee to address a specific issue.
- List events, webinars and funding opportunities on the calendar.
- Start and join forums to share best practices, innovations, learn what others are doing and network with other hunger fighters.
- Create new initiatives and collaborate openly with other FNC members to develop a common agenda and a framework for metrics and measurement.
After signing up, please connect with FNC on Facebook and Twitter.
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National Hunger Hotline Outreach Materials
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The Summer Food Service Program is coming to a close, but the National Hunger Hotline is here to help families find food year-round. Swap out your SFSP promotional flyers with our free, downloadable Hotline posters in English and Spanish, available at www.whyhunger.org/outreach.
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Wage and Income Inequality Interactive Website
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The fact that the United States has become increasingly unequal in terms of income, wages, wealth and opportunity has hit the mainstream and public demands for economic fairness have gone viral. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has created the Inequality.is website to bring clarity to the national dialogue on wage and income inequality, using interactive tools and videos to tell the story of how we arrived at the state of inequality we find today and what can be done to reverse course and ensure workers get their fair share.
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Health Insurance Marketplace Opens October 1st
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In March of 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act), which attempts to fix a broken healthcare system by making improvements in four key areas:
- It ends the worst insurance company abuses.
- It makes health insurance more affordable.
- It strengthens Medicare.
- It provides better options for coverage.
Families and communities now have the freedom from worrying about unfairly losing their insurance, or having it run out due to a lifetime limit if they or a loved one are in an accident or become sick.
Many community leaders are now helping people learn about the Health Insurance Marketplace. Individuals can enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace as early as October 1, 2013, and coverage begins on January 1, 2014.
The Health and Human Services Partnership Center is hosting webinars featuring a tour of the newly relaunched Healthcare.gov and a Q&A session. The next webinar is Tuesday, August 20 at 2:00 pm ET and a Spanish language webinar will be held on Thursday, August 22 at 1:00 pm ET.
Click here for webinar signup, educational materials and more information.
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The Recipe Box
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Check out the FNCS Recipe Box, a new webpage full of quick, delicious, cost-effective recipes for every type of cook. The Recipe Box consolidates the nutritious (and tasty) know-how of USDA's Food Nutrition and Consumer Services agencies, Food and Nutrition Service, and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion into one central location. Hundreds of low-cost recipes are available on the site, plus state-of-the-art nutrition guidance -- including a host of kid-friendly recipe ideas developed during the First Lady's Let's Move! Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge.
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10 Tips Nutrition Education Series
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The USDA MyPlate Ten Tips Nutrition Education Series provides consumers and professionals with high quality, easy-to-follow nutrition tips in a convenient, printable format. These are perfect for posting on a refrigerator.
Choose from over two dozen tip sheets addressing topics such as "Eating Better on a Budget," "Make Half your Grains Whole," "Snack Tips for Parents" and "Enjoy Food from Many Cultures." This resource is available in both English and Spanish.
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Small Investment Leads to Increased Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among SNAP Recipients
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On July 24th, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the results of US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) and discussed additional steps USDA and its partners are taking to encourage recipients to purchase healthy foods using SNAP benefits. Authorized by Congress through the 2008 Farm Bill, HIP tested the impact of incentivizing fruit and vegetable purchases among a small group of SNAP recipients in Hampden, Massachusetts. The pilot determined that an ongoing investment of less than 15 cents per person per day may result in a 25 percent increase in fruit and vegetable consumption among adults. Adults receiving the HIP incentive consumed, on average, an ounce more of fruits and vegetables per day than non-participants. Click here for the press release and more information about the Healthy Incentives Pilot.
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Aetna Foundation Regional Grants for Community Wellness Initiatives
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The Aetna Foundation's Regional Grants fund community wellness initiatives that serve those who are most at risk for poor health -- low-income, underserved or minority populations. A healthy diet and regular exercise can help prevent obesity and many chronic conditions. That's why advocates focus on efforts that promote eating fresh fruits and vegetables and being active.
Grants will target communities where healthy food can be difficult to buy, and where social and environmental factors may limit people's ability to be physically active.
Aetna Foundation's 2013 Regional Grants will focus on:
- Healthy food choices -- Programs that provide nutrition education and help increase the availability of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in underserved communities.
- Healthy activity -- Programs that provide opportunities for physical activity in underserved communities.
Types of projects to seek to support include:
- School-based or after-school nutrition and fitness programs that help children learn healthy habits at an early age.
- Community-based nutrition education programs for children and families.
- Efforts to increase the availability or affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables in communities.
- Community gardening and urban farming activities for children and families.
Applications that focus on healthy food choices and physical activity through a racial and ethnic health equity lens will receive priority consideration. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis through September 15, 2013. Click here for more information and to submit an application.
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Crowdfunding for Grassroots Organizations: An Overview
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In late 2010, Chase Adam was serving as a young Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica. While sitting in the back of a crowded bus traveling through the small town of Watsi, he noticed an old woman in tattered clothes making her way down the aisle. She held a plastic bag in one hand and with her other was showing a folder to each of passengers seated ahead of him. After viewing the folder, almost every passenger would reach into his or her pocket and give the women whatever they could spare. By the time she got to Chase, he could see that her plastic bag was overflowing with money. Curious, he looked up and realized that her folder contained a picture of her son with his abdomen cut open. Next to the picture was a description of his medical condition and an informal plea asking for any donations that could be spared to help fund his procedures. Like the other members of the bus, Chase felt compelled to help.
From this vision, Chase went on to create the crowdfunding website Watsi -- named after the Costa Rican town in the story above -- which is dedicated to obtaining the necessary medical funds for needy patients throughout the world. Coordinating with healthcare partners from across the globe, Watsi receives cases from approved doctors and creates online "platforms" for the patients that include pictures and case descriptions that introduce the causes to potential donors. The procedures are usually small surgeries that cost under $3000USD, and they remain posted until they are funded. 100% of the donations go to the patient's medical care, making this site a prime example of how charities and non-profit organizations can use online crowdfunding. Though only Watsi and its approved partners are allowed to advertise on the site, it is only a minor part of this emerging multi-billion dollar industry and if you don't want to create your own site, there are still plenty of others that allow organizations to get their cause out there. It is important, however, to distinguish the differences between crowdfunding sites.
Click here to continue reading about crowdfunding opportunities on the Connect Blog.
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CONNECT WITH US
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The Clearinghouse newsletter is meant, among other things, to encourage conversation and dialogue about transforming communities, community food security and the emergency food system. We see critical thinking, lively debate and reflective practice as a necessary part of systems change. We want to hear from you! Email us at nhc@whyhunger.org. Contributors: Christine Binder, James Fuller and Jessica Powers. |
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