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Summer Meals App
Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup Global, builds apps that help communities organize, access, and apply local resources to their most pressing problems. Recognizing that only 1 in 7 youth who receive free and reduced meals at school use free meal programs during the summer, they created Range, a mobile app that locates the time and place where free meals are served. Anyone can use this app to find free meals for youth this summer, but they are focusing outreach on trusted adults who interact with youth-- physicians, librarians, social workers, public parks counselors-- to increase visibility to the neighborhood sites that provide this crucial service. The app uses data from WhyHunger's database. If you work at a state agency or sponsor summer meal sites, be sure to register those sites in our database. For instructions and the template to register multiple sites, go to our website.
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Stories from the Hotline:
Starting a Summer Site
A pastor from North Carolina called the National Hunger Hotline after finding the phone number on the Summer Food Service Program website. He wanted to learn more about sponsoring a summer feeding site at his church, which serves many of the low-income families in his area. The Hotline advocate explained the program to him, directed him to his State agency for more information on how to apply, and asked him to register with the National Hunger Hotline so Hotline advocates can refer callers to his feeding site.
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Closing the Hunger Gap Report
a conference for progressive emergency food providers across the country who are interested in moving beyond charitable distribution. Providers attended workshops, networked, and identified seven areas of interest and exploration through a facilitated process: Food Banks as Public Health Institutions, Food Banks in Symbiotic Relationship with Local Food Producers, Capacity Building and Convening, Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation and Learning, Becoming Community Economic Builders, Food Banks as Community Organizers and Social Justice Advocates, and Food Banks as Public Policy Leaders. The conference report is now available on the website, and marks the start of a coordinated, transparent effort to share ideas and advance food banking into a more justice oriented approach.
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Hunger is a health care issue. With an estimated 130 billion dollars in annual health care costs associated with hunger, addressing food insecurity and poor nutrition is a necessary step for the health of our communities. The Come to the Table video by Promedica, a locally owned, nonprofit healthcare organization serving northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, makes the connection clearly. A recent article, "Access to Good Food as Preventive Medicine," discusses recent findings that one in three chronic disease sufferers can't afford health, medicine, or both and what medical professionals are doing to help. The head researcher of that study sits on the Board of the San Francisco and Marin County Food Bank. Depression associated with food insecurity costs 29.2 billion annually. Community Food Centres Canada recently hosted a webinar on Diet, Mental Health, and the Role of Community Food Programs which discussed research on the topic of diet, mental health, and its intersection with poverty as well as innovative programs to address these issues. A recording of the webinar will soon be available on The Pod Knowledge Exchange.
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College and University Food Bank Alliance
Faced with increasing college tuition costs and a high cost of living, many college students experience food insecurity, hunger, and poverty. Students have responded by starting food pantries at universities around the country, and the College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA) seeks to share resources among campus-based programs.
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School Grants for Healthy Kids
Action for Healthy Kids has grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to help school administrators create or expand a school breakfast program or enhance a physical activity program. The deadline to apply online for the School Grants for Healthy Kids is May 2nd.
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Please verify that your organization's profile is accurate in the database. To update your record, email nhc@whyhunger.org. If your organization is not in the database, please join us here.
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The Clearinghouse Connection is meant to encourage conversation and dialogue about transforming communities, community food security and the emergency food system. We want to hear from you! Email us at nhc@whyhunger.org.
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National Hunger Clearinghouse
WhyHunger
505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2100
New York, New York 10018
212-629-8850
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Contributors: Christine Binder and Jessica Powers
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