Since the federal government shut down earlier this month, the National Hunger Hotline has already begun to receive calls from people impacted, including a furloughed federal worker from Florida who lives paycheck to paycheck and now needs help feeding his family; a Tennessee woman who had trouble finding out how to apply for food stamps because the federal SNAP Information Number is no longer functional; and a Kansas grandmother who was interested in receiving monthly food boxes through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which is not currently being funded.

The National Hunger Hotline 1-866-3 HUNGRY and 1-877-8 HAMBRE (1-866-348-6479 and 1-877-842-6273) remains open to refer 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. Though the Hotline is normally funded in part by the USDA, we remain steadfast in our commitment by connecting people to nutritious, affordable food.

Last month, WhyHunger headed out to the Rockaways, an area of New York City's borough of Queens that was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, to chat with Robyn Hillman-Harrigan, one of the founders of  Shore Soup Project and Rockaway Rescue Alliance. Originally started as a response to Sandy, this unique project has now become a thriving and sustainable community food security enterprise. We sat down with Robyn for a Q&A about the organization, the Rockaways community and what it takes to build sustainably.

How was the Shore Soup Project/Rockaway Rescue Alliance started?

Robyn: "The Shore Soup Project/Rockaway Rescue Alliance started right after Hurricane Sandy. Prior to Sandy, I had a business in the summer called Shore Fruit, where I sold cut fruit out of a tricycle cart. The idea was that it would be a sustainable business where we would make enough for that day's sales, and we would compost any waste. It was really fun enterprise that was geared towards kids. What we found, though, was that a lot of neighborhood kids didn't have any money or only had a dollar, so sometimes at the end of the day, if we had anything left over, we would give it to the kids on the ride back. We wished it could be free but weren't sure how that could be sustainable."

Then, last October, Hurricane Sandy hit. Robyn was at home in the Rockaways when the storm surge hit. She saw the entire boardwalk lift up and slide down the block, with lampposts and benches still attached. The 14-foot waves broke through the seawall and made their way down the Rockaway blocks.

"You felt like you were on the ocean. My house was shaking back and forth. Neighbors had their houses flooded. Everyone lost power and/or phone reception. People were really isolated and didn't know what was going on. When we came out of the house the next morning, you just saw the devastation. Cars turned over with gas seeping out of them; the house next to mine had a car smashed into it. People's first reaction was to go outside, survey the damage and check on their neighbors. People asked each other how they were, told their stories and there were lots of hugs. It was an intense experience for everyone."

After seeing the state of their neighbors, Robyn and Lillian, her Shore Fruit Project partner, decided to return home and cook up some food to give out.

"This was our first reaction, because we saw that people were cold, wet and freaked out. There were just a lot of people wandering the street looking for support. We loaded up the tricycle cart that day with hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate and served it out of jars, cups and whatever we had. The response to the hot drinks was one of gratitude; everything we had went right away." People started asking if they had any food as well. So they made some spaghetti and again that went right away.

Every day after that, after enduring very cold nights in their home, Robyn and Lillian gave out hot food to their neighbors. By the third day, they decided to set up on a street corner so they could serve more people. They made their makeshift kitchen in a parking lot, with a piece of driftwood propped on two boxes for their camping stove, propane and pots and pans. Once word got out that they were there, people offered help, which often meant driving in cooked food from other parts of the city. As Robyn and Lillian continued operations for the rest of the week, their spot quickly became a one-stop distribution site for clothes, diapers, batteries, flashlights and candles.  People came to eat and then spread the word so more people could eat too. While Lillian was cooking every day, Robyn took a step back to figure out what their next step should be.

Click here to keep reading on the Connect Blog.

Last month, WhyHunger staff attended a book talk with Nick Saul, president and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada and co-author of The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement. Saul was the executive director of The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto from 1998 to 2012. He described the long, demoralizing food pantry lines when he first began at The Stop: "You had to keep your eyes down...you literally checked your humanity at the door when you walked in." His book tells the story of fourteen years of "relentless incrementalism," during which a series of small changes transformed a pantry handing out unhealthy processed foods and produce on the edge of spoilage to a Community Food Centre with gardens, kitchens, healthy drop-in meals, a greenhouse, farmers markets, nutrition education and cooking classes.

Saul doesn't believe that food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens actually "end hunger," however. When looking at emergency food, the dominant programmatic response to hunger, it's important to ask the following questions:    

In late September, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona led over 300 representatives from 170 different organizations -- food banks, health organizations, school districts, farms and universities -- in three days of critical discussion, resource sharing and action planning towards ending hunger in America.

Didn't make it to the conference? Click here to find information and presentations from many of the workshops. You can also read about Exploring the Sonoran Foodshed, one of the three tours conference-goers attended, on WhyHunger's Connect Blog.

Congress' decision to cut SNAP will not only directly impact the 47 million Americans who rely on these vital benefits, but its impact will send a ripple effect through our nation. Learn more and take a stand at HungerCliff.org.

FoodBank Manager is an easy to use, customizable database software for emergency food providers. It can be accessed from anywhere, including mobile devices, and can be customized to fit each emergency food providers' needs. FoodBank Manager allows you to manage information for multiple feeding sites and compile data needed to report to the USDA.

The FoodBank Manager website offers a great Help section with lots of video tutorials and guides to help you navigate the software. Additional training and support is provided to FoodBank Manager clients at no extra cost.

A subscription to FoodBank Manager includes a free 30-day trial. Afterwards, the software can be purchased at the monthly price of $24.95.

SuperFood Drive holds a vision where hunger relief is synonymous with healthy food distribution. To simultaneously address hunger, malnutrition, obesity and chronic disease, SuperFood Drive supports food banks and food pantries in transforming into healthy hunger relief organizations.

Visit SuperFoodDrive.org to download free pdf toolkits, including

• Resources for food banks and food pantries,
• Resources for hosting a healthy food drive,
• Resources for organizations working with youth, and
• Recipe cards for healthy meals that incorporate frequently-donated ingredients.