Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 Listening Session

The public is invited to attend a listening session hosted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in response to the Obama Administration’s challenge to federal agencies to eliminate childhood hunger by 2015.

The listening session is being held at the Oakland Federal Building on Thursday, October 1st from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will be a lunch break from Noon – 1:00p.m. Attendees are asked to provide their own lunch.

During the session, FNS representatives will listen and gather recommendations for ending childhood hunger by 2015 from program cooperators, participants and partners at state and local levels, who provide unique yet necessary points of view that will help assist the Obama Administration as it considers potential changes to programs and their delivery. Our own Cindy McCown, Senior Director of Programs and Services at the Food Bank will be speaking on behalf of the California Association of Food Bank’s.

For more information, email wro-pa@fns.usda.gov or call (415) 705-1311.

If you are unable to attend, comments and recommendations can be emailed to the above address or faxed to: (415) 705-1364. Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2009.

Target volunteers help get fresh produce out to local families in need

Recently, Target team members put their energies to good use by helping bag plums in our San Jose warehouse.

These hard working volunteers bagged a total of 4,263 pounds of the fresh fruit in just a few short hours.

Later that day, the plums were loaded onto a Food Bank truck for distribution to 162 low-income families in East San Jose who participate in the Food Bank’s Family Harvest program. Pears, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers, corn-on-the-cob, celery, potatoes, onions, eggs, tortillas, pasta, rice, beans, peanut butter, bread, cereal, and whole chickens were also included in the distribution.

Store Team Leader Meredith Klausner said that Target employees are always very generous with their time. Their work at the Food Bank is a great example of how everyone pitches in to help people in need in their local community.

Take Action: Help Restore the Brown Bag Program for Seniors

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and other food banks throughout California receive state funds for the Brown Bag Program for seniors.

During the recent State budget process Governor Schwarzenegger's made the bold move of doing a line-item veto of the Brown Bag Program. Basically, he removed the program from the State budget!

In fiscal year 2008/09, our Brown Bag Program provided groceries to over 10,800 senior households. This amounted to over 10,400,800 pounds of food for the elderly. Many of these low-income seniors are struggling, and the Brown Bag Program provides their primary source of food. They are being forced to choose between spending their money on rent, utilities, prescription medications, or food. For them, purchasing enough food to survive is a daily challenge. The Brown Bag Program provides a critical service to ensure that people have the basic necessity of life: nutrition.

The Impact
Brown Bag recipients are primarily women receiving SSI/SSP who, through a string of budget deals, have just seen their stipends cut. Additionally, the Brown Bag Program provides critical funding to food banks. Approximately $20,000 per provider may not seem like much to make a program operate and grow, but it is critical to smaller food banks.

Return on Investment
The Brown Bag Program makes efficient use of state funds. Every dollar invested by the state provides to seniors approximately $40 in food and services from the local community. The program is currently funded at $541,000, which means the program leverages over $21 million in food and services for seniors, all of which will be lost if the Governor's veto stands.

Take a few easy steps to help restore the Brown Bag Program:

• Download, fill out and fax this flyer (pdf) to all the Assembly members and Senators in your service area, as well as the Assembly and Senate leadership. Fax numbers for all legislators and the leadership are listed on the second page of the flyer.


• Spread the word. Email the flyer to your coworkers, friends, and other people who will want to take action.


• Update and fax this sample letter from your organization to legislative leaders asking them to restore the Brown Bag Program.

Photo: One of Second Harvest's long-time Mountain View Brown Bag volunteers

Our Tuesday Warehouse Volunteers Get the Food Out!

This morning I grabbed the camera and headed down to the San Jose warehouse to see what was going on. As it is my job to sit in front of a computer most of the day, it's really good to get out into the action once in a while.

Today, it was the Tuesday Warehouse Volunteers! This committed group really knows how to get the job done.

Loading up the Produce Mobile was no problem for them. The KidsNOW bags were filled with great ready-to-eat snacks. Our Family Harvest clients will have fresh corn, carrots, potatoes and spring onions to prepare meals with.

If you've ever been part of a food sort, you know how overwhelming the job can look at first. But with our Volunteer Coordinators plus the volunteer Team Leaders, you soon realize how it all comes together to feed our neighbors in need.

Today's morning group had volunteers from all walks of life. There were retirees working alongside high school students.

PIN (Partners in Need) program volunteers, who receive bags of food after their volunteer service, were pitching in with gusto, knowing how appreciated their efforts are.

I'm honored to work alongside these dedicated volunteers! They showcase the community spirit that keeps our organization running.

Why Finger-Imaging is Bad News for Food Stamps

Bad news from Sacramento: Governor Schwarzenegger wants to not only keep the finger-imaging requirement for food stamp applicants, but expand finger-imaging to those receiving In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).

We at Second Harvest Food Bank are deeply concerned because many of the people we serve are also participants or are eligible for these crucial safety net programs.

Second Harvest supports initiatives that would increase participation in state and federal supplemental food programs. This will relieve strain on our resources, allowing us to concentrate on those in our community who do not qualify for those programs but still meet our income guidelines (approximately 200% of the Federal Poverty Line).

WHY THIS MATTERS:
IHSS provides in-home support to elderly, blind, and disabled Californians. This helps prevent them from having to be institutionalized, which is a far more costly alternative to the state than providing services for them in their own homes. Were finger-imaging implemented for this program, participation would assuredly drop, and many more of California’s most vulnerable population would end up in nursing homes.

It has been proven that finger-imaging is a major deterrent to participation in the programs it has been applied to, namely the Food Stamp Program. This program is the main federal nutrition program and it provides credit to low-income families and individuals to be redeemed for food at participating grocery stores.

Finger-imaging makes applicants feel like criminals. Ashamed and embarrassed, many don’t sign up for food stamps, even if they need them and qualify for them.

Furthermore, getting a fingerprint done requires another trip out to government agency offices, which for many of these families means missing work. The money and time lost, and the childcare arrangements during that trip can deter those in need from seeking assistance.

What is more, finger-imaging has not been cost-effective. It is meant to deter multiple-aid fraud, but its cost far outweighs the negligible amount of benefits stolen through fraud. In this economic climate, the governor wants to expand an ineffective system that costs the state more than $8 million a year!

Click on the following links for more information on the governor’s proposal and learn how Food Stamps BOOST our economy in the following articles:

Fingerprinting rule will deter those needing help
Editorial, The San Jose Mercury News

Fairy Tales, Fraud, and Food Stamps (PDF)
California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA.net):
Read this lighthearted one-pager on the Governor's serious finger printing expansion efforts. Call the Governor (916.445.2841) and urge him to accept the Legislature’s plan to save millions to by ending finger imaging for food stamps and to abandon his efforts to fingerprint blind, elderly, and disabled Californians receiving IHSS.

Boost in Food-Stamp Funding Percolates Through Economy
The Wall Street Journal

The stimulus that actually IS working
The Dave Ross Show

Ending the Cycle of Poverty: AB 433 brings us one step closer!

AB 433 is now law!
No More Asset Test for Food Stamp Households with Children
A great victory has been achieved for families struggling to put food on the table. Food stamp households will now no longer be subject to an asset test, a crucial step to expanding participation in the Food Stamp Program, as well as helping people escape the cycle of poverty. No asset test means families can save up for things like a child’s college education or a retirement fund, without worrying that they will be cut off from Food Stamps.

Previously, assets were included in the calculation of a family’s income, which determines Food Stamp eligibility. This puts families in a very difficult situation of either trying to save for the future, or receiving food now.

This new requirement will be implemented at the county level, and counties can begin its implementation as early as July 1, 2009, but no later than January 1, 2010.

It is our understanding that San Mateo County will begin implementation on August 1, 2009.

More work is left to be done, however: The new rule applies only to households with children, excluding single adults or adults living together.

• Download a more detailed flyer on this important change (PDF)
  
• Find out more at California Food Policy Advocates

Quotes on Hunger

Our Advocacy intern, Natasha, found a wellspring of quotes on the issue of Hunger. I thought I'd share them with you and see if, in turn, you have some you would like to share with us. Please post your favorites to the comment section below and...

...may you be inspired!

There are genuinely sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, at no time, should go hungry.
-- Ed Asner

Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence.
-- Pearl Bailey

We are a country that prides itself on power and wealth, yet there are millions of children who go hungry every day. It is our responsibility, not only as a nation, but also as individuals, to get involved. So, next time you pass someone on the street who is in need, remember how lucky you are, and don't turn away.
-- Lesley Boone

The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically, much of the world's food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and other livestock--food for the well off--while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation.
-- Dr.Walden Bello

The American fast food diet and the meat eating habits of the wealthy around the world support a world food system that diverts food resources from the hungry. A diet higher in whole grains and legumes and lower in beef and other meat is not just healthier for ourselves but also contributes to changing the world system that feeds some people and leaves others hungry.
-- Dr.Walden Bello

…the first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world.
-- Norman Borlaug

If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace.
-- Norman Borlaug

One of the greatest feelings in the world is knowing that we as individuals can make a difference. Ending hunger in America is a goal that is literally within our grasp.
-- Jeff Bridges

35 million people in the U.S. are hungry or don't know where their next meal is coming from, and 13 million of them are children. If another country were doing this to our children, we'd be at war.
-- Jeff Bridges

Public charities, foodbanks and church pantries are doing more than ever before, but they can't keep up with the need. We can never end hunger only through the wonderful work of local charities. Like other Western democracies, we must end our national problem of hunger through national and political leadership. Charity is nice for some things, but not as a way to feed a nation. We don't protect our national security through charity, and we shouldn't protect our families and children that way either.
-- Jeff Bridges

Most of our citizenry believes that hunger only affects people who are lazy or people who are just looking for a handout, people who dont' want to work, but, sadly, that is not true. Over one-third of our hungry people are innocent children who are members of households that simply cannot provide enough food or proper nutrition. And to think of the elderly suffering from malnutrition is just too hard for most of us. Unlike Third World nations, in our country the problem is not having too little – it is about not caring enough! Write your elected representatives and promote support for the hungry.
-- Erin Brokovich

Many people think that hunger is unavoidable in any society, even a society that is blessed with great abundance. That is not true. The European community does not have widespread hunger. America, which leads the world in so many ways, can end childhood hunger within its borders.
-- Pierce Brosnan

"A hungry man can't see right or wrong. He just sees food."
-- Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

"Hunger makes a thief of any man."
-- Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

"There will never cease to be ferment in the world unless people are sure of their food."
-- Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

In this country that grows more food than any other nation on this earth, it is unthinkable that any child should go hungry.
-- Sela Ward, actress

The day hunger disappears, the world will see the greatest spiritual explosion humanity has ever seen.
-- Federico Garcia Lorca

Many thanks to Culture of Peace Initiative.