Washington (CNN) -- Feeding the hungry is the mission at Manna Food Center, a food bank in the suburbs of the nation's capital. This year, officials here are seeing more and more people who need their help.
America's slow recovery from the worst economic crisis in decades has left families across the country struggling to put food on their tables, whether or not they have a job.
With an unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent and millions of people working part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time positions, a record 45.8 million people -- one of every seven -- received food stamps from the government in May. Demand for this kind of federal help has risen in all 50 states.
Manna helps people who get food stamps and thousands of others who do not qualify for them. The center says the number of people it serves has risen dramatically in recent years -- from 82,683 in fiscal year 2008 to 172,627 people in 2011.
On a recent Friday morning, trucks arrived at the warehouse to drop off food the organization rescues from 40 area grocery stores, items that are reaching their sell-by dates but are still safe to eat. Volunteers worked to retrieve the deliveries from the loading docks, while others went from shelf to shelf filling boxes with goods or helping wheel them out to clients' cars.
In the office, people began lining up around noon to receive the 70 pounds of fresh produce, canned goods and other items Manna hands out to each family every 30 days. Old and young. White, black and Hispanic. Some came alone; others brought their children or other family members.
The economy is adding jobs, but not quickly enough to trickle down to the families the food bank serves.
"Any growth that the economy is feeling, the folks here at Manna are not feeling that yet," said Natalie Corbin, Manna's development director, during an interview in the center's main warehouse in Gaithersburg, Maryland. "In fact, our numbers, from year to year have continued to trend upwards. So until we see a dramatic change in the economy, we're going to continue to see a dramatic increase in folks who are coming here.
"We're expecting this winter to be the highest in history of Manna for folks needing food assistance."
Even people who have jobs are having a hard time feeding their families.
Read the complete story here.
Showing posts with label Hunger in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunger in America. Show all posts
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Cooks Serving Others - And Themselves
Volunteers who feed the hungry put their best recipes to the test in a cook-off, and pass out checks to continue the good work.
By Dianna Marder
Inquirer Staff Writer
There's a sophisticated air at the annual chowder cook-off in Newport, R.I., and a down-home feel at the West Texas barbecue cook-off in Lubbock.
But here in the City of Brotherly Love, you'd better stand back when local church ladies compete in the annual Soup Kitchen Cook-Off.
Last week's contest, sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, challenged volunteers from the nearly 100 member soup kitchens and food pantries to compete for bragging rights.
Year-round, these church ladies (and a few gentlemen) prepare large quantities of meat-and-potatoes meals using donated ingredients, or they distribute bags of groceries to families in their communities.
But last week they took time out to put their personal best to the test at Resurrection Baptist in Parkside. From North, South and West Philadelphia they came; from Mount Airy and from Germantown, bearing main dishes, salads and desserts.
Pat Davis of the Open Door Sanctuary Kitchen brought a vegetarian taco salad made with seitan; and Curtis Robinson Sr. of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia brought the shrimp scampi that has made him especially welcome at all sorts of gatherings.
Marlene Harley of Living Water United Church of Christ in North Philadelphia set a new record: In the salads category, her signature chicken salad won first place and her potato salad took second.
Renai Ellison, of the MyPHL17 television program Better Philly, judged the first two categories while chef and cookbook author Delilah Winder, of Delilah's Southern Cuisine, judged the desserts.
After that, the contest entries were served for lunch.
There was sweet potato pie, beef tenderloin, honey-barbecue chicken, raspberry pasta, mango salad, fruit pie, double chocolate cake and Doris Shepard's prize-winning Six Layer Coconut Cake.
No broccoli, no spinach, not even any collards.
As they ate, the volunteers chatted about the way eating together and rejoicing in traditional recipes bound their families together - as the lack of food splits today's families apart.
As a girl, Rose Stephens, 87, cooked while her parents and older siblings worked their North Carolina farm. That's where she perfected her rum cake, her chopped barbecue and her sweet potato jacks.
"Not flapjacks. These were jacks," she says, describing a sort of pancake that was folded over like a stromboli and then deep fried. Not a low-cal/low-carb dish, but . . .
"I didn't feel burdened," Stephens said. "It was an honor to cook for the family."
Marlene Felton's corn pudding took first place in the main dish category and her cream cheese pound cake won second place in desserts.
Felton, 56, and her husband Derek, 58, left their day jobs a few years ago to make serving the hungry the family's full-time occupation. Fresh Start, the nonprofit the Feltons founded in Overbrook, gives groceries to 400 families a month.
But Fresh Start is also a resource center, says Derek Felton, who grew up in poverty and remembers going to school without breakfast. He went on to become a chef for Sheraton Inns.
Each of Fresh Start's monthly hot breakfasts features a self-help workshop directed at matching individual needs with existing resources. That way, Felton says, Fresh Start helps get people off drugs, into safe housing, and prepared for new careers.
Pat Davis of the Open Door Sanctuary said she sees more and more families in need of clothing too. It's sobering, she says.
After lunch, coalition officials distributed $140,000 in checks to 98 member food pantries and soup kitchens - a portion of the $250,000 raised at the Coalition's Walk Against Hunger in April. The $140,000 will be used for food, equipment or supplies at each program. The remainder of the money will expand the capacity of the feeding programs and perhaps bring more of the estimated 500 similar Philadelphia-based programs into the coalition.
Read the rest of the story (along with some tasty recipes) here.
By Dianna Marder
Inquirer Staff Writer
There's a sophisticated air at the annual chowder cook-off in Newport, R.I., and a down-home feel at the West Texas barbecue cook-off in Lubbock.
But here in the City of Brotherly Love, you'd better stand back when local church ladies compete in the annual Soup Kitchen Cook-Off.
Last week's contest, sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, challenged volunteers from the nearly 100 member soup kitchens and food pantries to compete for bragging rights.
Year-round, these church ladies (and a few gentlemen) prepare large quantities of meat-and-potatoes meals using donated ingredients, or they distribute bags of groceries to families in their communities.
But last week they took time out to put their personal best to the test at Resurrection Baptist in Parkside. From North, South and West Philadelphia they came; from Mount Airy and from Germantown, bearing main dishes, salads and desserts.
Pat Davis of the Open Door Sanctuary Kitchen brought a vegetarian taco salad made with seitan; and Curtis Robinson Sr. of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia brought the shrimp scampi that has made him especially welcome at all sorts of gatherings.
Marlene Harley of Living Water United Church of Christ in North Philadelphia set a new record: In the salads category, her signature chicken salad won first place and her potato salad took second.
Renai Ellison, of the MyPHL17 television program Better Philly, judged the first two categories while chef and cookbook author Delilah Winder, of Delilah's Southern Cuisine, judged the desserts.
After that, the contest entries were served for lunch.
There was sweet potato pie, beef tenderloin, honey-barbecue chicken, raspberry pasta, mango salad, fruit pie, double chocolate cake and Doris Shepard's prize-winning Six Layer Coconut Cake.
No broccoli, no spinach, not even any collards.
As they ate, the volunteers chatted about the way eating together and rejoicing in traditional recipes bound their families together - as the lack of food splits today's families apart.
As a girl, Rose Stephens, 87, cooked while her parents and older siblings worked their North Carolina farm. That's where she perfected her rum cake, her chopped barbecue and her sweet potato jacks.
"Not flapjacks. These were jacks," she says, describing a sort of pancake that was folded over like a stromboli and then deep fried. Not a low-cal/low-carb dish, but . . .
"I didn't feel burdened," Stephens said. "It was an honor to cook for the family."
Marlene Felton's corn pudding took first place in the main dish category and her cream cheese pound cake won second place in desserts.
Felton, 56, and her husband Derek, 58, left their day jobs a few years ago to make serving the hungry the family's full-time occupation. Fresh Start, the nonprofit the Feltons founded in Overbrook, gives groceries to 400 families a month.
But Fresh Start is also a resource center, says Derek Felton, who grew up in poverty and remembers going to school without breakfast. He went on to become a chef for Sheraton Inns.
Each of Fresh Start's monthly hot breakfasts features a self-help workshop directed at matching individual needs with existing resources. That way, Felton says, Fresh Start helps get people off drugs, into safe housing, and prepared for new careers.
Pat Davis of the Open Door Sanctuary said she sees more and more families in need of clothing too. It's sobering, she says.
After lunch, coalition officials distributed $140,000 in checks to 98 member food pantries and soup kitchens - a portion of the $250,000 raised at the Coalition's Walk Against Hunger in April. The $140,000 will be used for food, equipment or supplies at each program. The remainder of the money will expand the capacity of the feeding programs and perhaps bring more of the estimated 500 similar Philadelphia-based programs into the coalition.
Read the rest of the story (along with some tasty recipes) here.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Bus Driver Delivers Free Home-cooked Meals
JACKSON HEIGHTS, New York (CNN) -- Every day, unemployed men gather under the elevated 7 train in Jackson Heights, Queens. Many of them are homeless. All of them are hungry.
At around 9:30 each night, relief comes in the form of Jorge Munoz's white pickup truck, filled with hot food, coffee and hot chocolate.
The men eagerly accept containers of chicken and rice from Munoz, devouring the food on the spot. Quiet gratitude radiates from the crowd.
For many, this is their only hot meal of the day; for some, it's the first food they've eaten since last night.
"I thank God for touching that man's heart," says Eduardo, one of the regulars.
Watching Munoz, 44, distribute meals and offer extra cups of coffee, it's clear he's passionate about bringing food to hungry people. For more than four years, Munoz and his family have been feeding those in need seven nights a week, 365 days a year. To date, he estimates he's served more than 70,000 meals.
Word of his mobile soup kitchen has spread, and people of all backgrounds and status now join the largely-Hispanic crowd surrounding his truck -- Egyptians, Chinese, Ethiopians, South Asians, white and black Americans and a British man who lost his job.
"I'll help anyone who needs to eat. Just line up," Munoz says.
And at a time when food banks are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing demand, he's never been needed more. But for Munoz, a school bus driver by day, this work is a labor of love.
"When I see these guys on the street," he says, "it's like seeing me, 20-something years ago when I came to this country."
Munoz was born in Colombia and his father died in an accident when he was young. When his mother found it difficult to support Munoz and his sister, she made her way to New York, finding work in Brooklyn as a nanny. At her urging, Munoz followed in her footsteps, coming to the United States in the 1980s.
"She said this was a better future for us," he says.
Munoz obtained legal residency in 1987 and later became a citizen, along with his mother and sister. He never stood on a street corner to find work, but as an immigrant, he identifies with many of the men he feeds.
Munoz began his unorthodox meal program -- now his nonprofit, An Angel in Queens -- in the summer of 2004. Friends told him about large amounts of food being thrown away at their jobs. At first, he collected leftovers from local businesses and handed out brown bag lunches to underprivileged men three nights a week. Within a few months, Munoz and his mother were preparing 20 home-cooked meals daily.
Numbers gradually increased over the years to 35 per night, then 60. In recent months, that number has jumped to as many as 140 meals a night.
Sustaining this endeavor consumes most of his life. To his mother's dismay, his family's Woodhaven home is bursting with goods related to this work. An oversize freezer takes up most of the dining room, and the porch is lined with canned food and paper products.
Daily operations now run like a well-oiled machine. Munoz gets up around 5:00 a.m. to drive his bus route, and he calls home on his breaks to see how the cooking is going. When he gets home around 5:30 p.m. -- often stopping to pick up food donations -- he helps pack up meals before heading out to "his corner" in Jackson Heights.
"He comes here without fail," says one of the men. "It could be cold, it could be really hot, but he's here." Watch Munoz in action in Queens, New York »
On Saturdays he takes the men breakfast, and on Sundays -- his "day off" -- he brings them ham-and-cheese sandwiches. It's a relentless schedule, but either Munoz or his sister does it every night of the year.
"If I don't go, I'm going to feel bad," he says. "I know they're going to be waiting for me."
With the economic downturn, donations have slowed as the crowds awaiting Munoz's arrival have grown. But he is determined to do all he can to meet their needs.
Munoz estimates that food and gas cost approximately $400 to 450 a week; he and his family are funding the operation through their savings and his weekly $700 paycheck.
Asked why he spends so much time to help people he doesn't know, he answers, "I have a stable job, my mom, my family, a house... everything I want, I have. And these guys [don't]. So I just think, 'OK, I have the food.' At least for today they're going to have a meal to eat."
Want to get involved? Check out An Angel in Queens and see how to help.
At around 9:30 each night, relief comes in the form of Jorge Munoz's white pickup truck, filled with hot food, coffee and hot chocolate.
The men eagerly accept containers of chicken and rice from Munoz, devouring the food on the spot. Quiet gratitude radiates from the crowd.
For many, this is their only hot meal of the day; for some, it's the first food they've eaten since last night.
"I thank God for touching that man's heart," says Eduardo, one of the regulars.
Watching Munoz, 44, distribute meals and offer extra cups of coffee, it's clear he's passionate about bringing food to hungry people. For more than four years, Munoz and his family have been feeding those in need seven nights a week, 365 days a year. To date, he estimates he's served more than 70,000 meals.
Word of his mobile soup kitchen has spread, and people of all backgrounds and status now join the largely-Hispanic crowd surrounding his truck -- Egyptians, Chinese, Ethiopians, South Asians, white and black Americans and a British man who lost his job.
"I'll help anyone who needs to eat. Just line up," Munoz says.
And at a time when food banks are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing demand, he's never been needed more. But for Munoz, a school bus driver by day, this work is a labor of love.
"When I see these guys on the street," he says, "it's like seeing me, 20-something years ago when I came to this country."
Munoz was born in Colombia and his father died in an accident when he was young. When his mother found it difficult to support Munoz and his sister, she made her way to New York, finding work in Brooklyn as a nanny. At her urging, Munoz followed in her footsteps, coming to the United States in the 1980s.
"She said this was a better future for us," he says.
Munoz obtained legal residency in 1987 and later became a citizen, along with his mother and sister. He never stood on a street corner to find work, but as an immigrant, he identifies with many of the men he feeds.
Munoz began his unorthodox meal program -- now his nonprofit, An Angel in Queens -- in the summer of 2004. Friends told him about large amounts of food being thrown away at their jobs. At first, he collected leftovers from local businesses and handed out brown bag lunches to underprivileged men three nights a week. Within a few months, Munoz and his mother were preparing 20 home-cooked meals daily.
Numbers gradually increased over the years to 35 per night, then 60. In recent months, that number has jumped to as many as 140 meals a night.
Sustaining this endeavor consumes most of his life. To his mother's dismay, his family's Woodhaven home is bursting with goods related to this work. An oversize freezer takes up most of the dining room, and the porch is lined with canned food and paper products.
Daily operations now run like a well-oiled machine. Munoz gets up around 5:00 a.m. to drive his bus route, and he calls home on his breaks to see how the cooking is going. When he gets home around 5:30 p.m. -- often stopping to pick up food donations -- he helps pack up meals before heading out to "his corner" in Jackson Heights.
"He comes here without fail," says one of the men. "It could be cold, it could be really hot, but he's here." Watch Munoz in action in Queens, New York »
On Saturdays he takes the men breakfast, and on Sundays -- his "day off" -- he brings them ham-and-cheese sandwiches. It's a relentless schedule, but either Munoz or his sister does it every night of the year.
"If I don't go, I'm going to feel bad," he says. "I know they're going to be waiting for me."
With the economic downturn, donations have slowed as the crowds awaiting Munoz's arrival have grown. But he is determined to do all he can to meet their needs.
Munoz estimates that food and gas cost approximately $400 to 450 a week; he and his family are funding the operation through their savings and his weekly $700 paycheck.
Asked why he spends so much time to help people he doesn't know, he answers, "I have a stable job, my mom, my family, a house... everything I want, I have. And these guys [don't]. So I just think, 'OK, I have the food.' At least for today they're going to have a meal to eat."
Want to get involved? Check out An Angel in Queens and see how to help.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Childhood Hunger Grows
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year's sharp economic downturn, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.
The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.
Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.
Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."
The findings should increase pressure to meet President-elect Barack Obama's campaign pledge to expand food aid and end childhood hunger by 2015, said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
He predicted the 2008 numbers will show even more hunger because of the sharp economic downturn this year.
"There's every reason to think the increases in the number of hungry people will be very, very large based on the increased demand we're seeing this year at food stamp agencies, emergency kitchens, Women, Infants and Children clinics, really across the entire social service support structure," said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
Weill said the figures show that economic growth during the first seven years of the Bush administration didn't reach the poorest and hungriest people. "The people in the deepest poverty are suffering the most," Weill said.
The number of adults and children with "low food security" -- those who avoided substantial food disruptions but still struggled to eat -- fell slightly since 2000, from 24.7 million to 24.3 million. The government said these people have several ways of coping -- eating less varied diets, obtaining food from emergency kitchens or community food charities, or participating in federal aid programs like food stamps, the school lunch program or the Women, Infants and Children program.
Among other findings:
• The families with the highest rates of food insecurity were headed by single mothers (30.2 percent), black households (22.2 percent), Hispanic households (20.1 percent), and households with incomes below the official poverty line (37.7 percent).
• States with families reporting the highest prevalence of food insecurity during 2005-2007 were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15 percent), Texas (14.8 percent) and Arkansas (14.4 percent).
• The highest growth in food insecurity over the last 9 years came in Alaska and Iowa, both of which saw a 3.7 percent increase in families who struggled to eat adequately or had substantial food disruptions.
The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.
Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.
Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."
The findings should increase pressure to meet President-elect Barack Obama's campaign pledge to expand food aid and end childhood hunger by 2015, said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
He predicted the 2008 numbers will show even more hunger because of the sharp economic downturn this year.
"There's every reason to think the increases in the number of hungry people will be very, very large based on the increased demand we're seeing this year at food stamp agencies, emergency kitchens, Women, Infants and Children clinics, really across the entire social service support structure," said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
Weill said the figures show that economic growth during the first seven years of the Bush administration didn't reach the poorest and hungriest people. "The people in the deepest poverty are suffering the most," Weill said.
The number of adults and children with "low food security" -- those who avoided substantial food disruptions but still struggled to eat -- fell slightly since 2000, from 24.7 million to 24.3 million. The government said these people have several ways of coping -- eating less varied diets, obtaining food from emergency kitchens or community food charities, or participating in federal aid programs like food stamps, the school lunch program or the Women, Infants and Children program.
Among other findings:
• The families with the highest rates of food insecurity were headed by single mothers (30.2 percent), black households (22.2 percent), Hispanic households (20.1 percent), and households with incomes below the official poverty line (37.7 percent).
• States with families reporting the highest prevalence of food insecurity during 2005-2007 were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15 percent), Texas (14.8 percent) and Arkansas (14.4 percent).
• The highest growth in food insecurity over the last 9 years came in Alaska and Iowa, both of which saw a 3.7 percent increase in families who struggled to eat adequately or had substantial food disruptions.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Renegade Lunch Lady Saving Kids' Lives
(CNN) -- Ann Cooper is on a one-woman whirlwind campaign to change the way kids eat in schools. "We're killing our kids with food," she says.
Half of all the Hispanic and African-American kids born in 2000 and one-third of Caucasian kids will have diabetes in their lifetime, many before they graduate college, Cooper says, citing U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. "It's all because of what we are feeding them," she says. "It's all preventable."
Cooper, self-proclaimed renegade lunch lady and chef, is actively working against what she describes as entrenched interests -- fast-food companies and junk-food producers -- that she says profit from selling unhealthy foods to schools. They're "basically making money off our children's health and their future," she says. "I'm just so pissed off."
She wasn't always this way. Cooper used to be a big-shot celebrity chef who worked at tony resorts, on cruise ships, for hotel chains and prestigious film festivals. She's won numerous awards and is on boards for executive chefs, women chefs and the Alumni Committee of the Culinary Institute of America.
Despite the accolades, Cooper felt something was missing. She recognized that as a celebrity chef, she was reaching only the top 10 percent of the wealthiest people in the country. So she sought ways to make a difference.
She and her fellow culinary icons "would spend a lot of time trying to give back," she says. "We cooked for Second Harvest, we cooked for donations, we cooked whatever."
But there was also impermanence to food. Whether people ate her food or threw it away, Cooper lamented that it all ended up as sewage or waste.
After writing her first book, "A Woman's Place Is In the Kitchen," on the role of women in food, she started to feel like there was a way to leave something behind. Writing the book led to associations with high-profile women who were trying to make a difference -- Alice Waters from Berkeley, California, and Nora Pouillon of Washington, D.C., who were into organics and sustainability.
Those relationships changed the way she thought about food -- so much so that a few years later came her second book, "Bitter Harvest," about where our food supply comes from and how political concerns often trump healthy diets.
Now Cooper knew she was getting somewhere. When the Ross School in East Hampton, New York, called offering her a position as executive chef of wellness and nutrition, she didn't exactly jump at the chance. But after giving it some thought, she realized it was a way to reach future generations and really leave a lasting impact. "All of a sudden, it felt like, wow, this is something I could really do, and I could really make a difference."
Today, Cooper is director of nutrition services in Berkeley, where she has transformed the school lunch program from 90 percent frozen reheated foods to 90 percent fresh. Berkeley schools used to serve fruit once a week; now it's on the menu every day, and so is the salad bar.
More than that, the healthy food curriculum is carried into the classroom. With a staff of 90 to help, Cooper runs cooking classes, gardening classes and serves food in 17 locations. She has created a "meal wheel" to help kids all over the country understand what should be on their plates daily. With her Web page, Lunch Lessons, Cooper is hoping to make her program a model. "There's only one of me. I can't cover the whole country," she says.
If she had one wish, Cooper says, it would be that "Oprah would take on this issue as a social justice issue and that we would get our presidential candidates to really start to talk about this issue, because I just can't imagine what's more important ... than the next generation. We're just really not taking care of them."
Half of all the Hispanic and African-American kids born in 2000 and one-third of Caucasian kids will have diabetes in their lifetime, many before they graduate college, Cooper says, citing U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. "It's all because of what we are feeding them," she says. "It's all preventable."
Cooper, self-proclaimed renegade lunch lady and chef, is actively working against what she describes as entrenched interests -- fast-food companies and junk-food producers -- that she says profit from selling unhealthy foods to schools. They're "basically making money off our children's health and their future," she says. "I'm just so pissed off."
She wasn't always this way. Cooper used to be a big-shot celebrity chef who worked at tony resorts, on cruise ships, for hotel chains and prestigious film festivals. She's won numerous awards and is on boards for executive chefs, women chefs and the Alumni Committee of the Culinary Institute of America.
Despite the accolades, Cooper felt something was missing. She recognized that as a celebrity chef, she was reaching only the top 10 percent of the wealthiest people in the country. So she sought ways to make a difference.
She and her fellow culinary icons "would spend a lot of time trying to give back," she says. "We cooked for Second Harvest, we cooked for donations, we cooked whatever."
But there was also impermanence to food. Whether people ate her food or threw it away, Cooper lamented that it all ended up as sewage or waste.
After writing her first book, "A Woman's Place Is In the Kitchen," on the role of women in food, she started to feel like there was a way to leave something behind. Writing the book led to associations with high-profile women who were trying to make a difference -- Alice Waters from Berkeley, California, and Nora Pouillon of Washington, D.C., who were into organics and sustainability.
Those relationships changed the way she thought about food -- so much so that a few years later came her second book, "Bitter Harvest," about where our food supply comes from and how political concerns often trump healthy diets.
Now Cooper knew she was getting somewhere. When the Ross School in East Hampton, New York, called offering her a position as executive chef of wellness and nutrition, she didn't exactly jump at the chance. But after giving it some thought, she realized it was a way to reach future generations and really leave a lasting impact. "All of a sudden, it felt like, wow, this is something I could really do, and I could really make a difference."
Today, Cooper is director of nutrition services in Berkeley, where she has transformed the school lunch program from 90 percent frozen reheated foods to 90 percent fresh. Berkeley schools used to serve fruit once a week; now it's on the menu every day, and so is the salad bar.
More than that, the healthy food curriculum is carried into the classroom. With a staff of 90 to help, Cooper runs cooking classes, gardening classes and serves food in 17 locations. She has created a "meal wheel" to help kids all over the country understand what should be on their plates daily. With her Web page, Lunch Lessons, Cooper is hoping to make her program a model. "There's only one of me. I can't cover the whole country," she says.
If she had one wish, Cooper says, it would be that "Oprah would take on this issue as a social justice issue and that we would get our presidential candidates to really start to talk about this issue, because I just can't imagine what's more important ... than the next generation. We're just really not taking care of them."
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Campus Kitchens Project
It’s inconceivable that hunger exists in the agriculturally plentiful, wealthy United States. Over the past few decades, the country has mobilized resources and support to reduce the tragedy of millions of Americans suffering from severe malnutrition—with some people even bordering on starvation. Yet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2005, 35.1 million Americans, including 12.4 million children, did not know where their next meal was coming from.Hunger in America does not exist because of a lack of food. Millions of pounds of edible food are discarded daily by supermarkets, food processors, restaurants, institutions and consumers. Rather, hunger in this country exists because of a quagmire of politics, including inertia to organize the distribution of food outside of federally funded, organized programs; lack of education; avoidance to call attention to the surplus food thrown away; and fear of litigation if food recipients become ill from donated products, despite the Good Samaritan law.
Fortunately, projects supported by private and not-for-profit enterprises, in addition to government-sponsored programs, continue to help wipe out hunger in America. One notably effective response to the hunger problem is the Campus Kitchens Project. A grant from the Sodexho Foundation provided the seed money to launch this project in 2001. The program pairs the DC Central Kitchen model and a concept called “Homerun,” created in 1999 by two Wake Forest University students to engage students in cooking and delivering dinners to community members.
The Sodexho Foundation continues to be a major supporter of the Campus Kitchens Project, a 501c3 organization that shares resources and ideas with the parent organization, DC Central Kitchen, but maintains an independent organizational status. Shondra Jenkins, a communications specialist at Sodexho USA, said the Sodexho Foundation provides $2 million a year in financial grants to support Campus Kitchens and food banks through Second Harvest and Habitat for Humanity. Other companies supporting Campus Kitchens include The UPS Foundation, General Mills, Shaw Pittman LLC, First Baptist Church, Chart-wells USA, Roundy’s Foundation, Timberland and Aramark. Twelve Campus Kitchens operate at 11 colleges (five are Sodexho accounts) and one high school. To date, 12,000 volunteers have delivered more than a half-million meals to community members in need.
Northwestern University has one of the most active and fastest-growing Campus Kitchens projects. During its four years in operation, CKNU’s 1,100 volunteers, who are mostly students, along with foodservice staff, professors, university staff, high school students and community members, have given 21,400 hours of their time to provide 167,000 meals to individuals and agencies in the Evanston, Ill., and Greater Chicago communities, said Kelly Collins, the full-time Campus Kitchens coordinator for CKNU. She and student leader volunteers are trained in HACCP and food safety.
“It took us about 18 months to get the program up and running,” said Paul Komelasky, district manager for Sodexho, who is actively encouraging contract-managed and self-op colleges nationwide to participate. “We developed what has become a standard contract between Sodexho, Northwestern University and Campus Kitchens, which includes objectives and liability responsibilities. Now, it takes a college about six months to start up a program.”
One kitchen on campus serves as the site for volunteers to prepare and assemble meals for distribution to community groups. Food for the meals comes from 12 different locations on campus. Food sold in retail locations is also donated. The operation is managed by Campus Kitchens, not the university’s foodservice.
In addition to providing food and nutrition education to the needy, CKNU has graduated nine trainees from the Culinary Job Training program, four students participated in the Campus Kitchens annual leadership program and two students piloted an assistant coordinator leadership program.
CKNU also received two grants to fund nutrition education and feeding programs for kids during the summer months.
Wiping out hunger in America need not be a pipe dream. As projects such as Campus Kitchens prove, this country has a wealth of resources that can be marshaled to assist communities in need. But the commitment to this problem must be long term and continuous. Assuming all is well or that others are taking enough action to eliminate the problem is a dangerous denial of reality.
Donna Boss is the founder of Boss Enterprises, dlb, a communications and marketing firm in New York.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Hunger in America
America’s Second Harvest (A2H), the nation’s largest network of emergency food providers, conducted a study in 2005 for the nation’s food bank network. The study was based on completed in-person interviews with 52,878 clients served by the A2H National Network, as well as on completed questionnaires from 31,342 A2H agencies. The study summarized below focuses mainly on emergency food providers and their clients who are supplied with food and other services by members of the A2H Network. Here, emergency food providers are defined to include food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters serving short-term residents.
Below I've selected some of the major results from the study. I think you will find many of these results very interesting.
• The A2H system served an estimated 24 to 27 million unduplicated people annually. This includes 22 to 25 million pantry users, 1.2 to 1.4 million kitchen users, and 0.8 million shelter users (Table 4.2.1).• Approximately 4.5 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the A2H system in any given week.
• 36.4% of the members of households served by the A2H National Network are children under 18 years old.
• 8% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.
• 10% of the members of households are elderly.
• About 40% of clients are non-Hispanic white; 38% are non-Hispanic black, and the rest are from other racial groups. 17% are Hispanic.
• 36% of households include at least one employed adult.
• 68% have incomes below the official federal poverty level.
• 12% are homeless.
• 42% of clients served by the A2H National Network report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.
• 35% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage.
• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.
• 35% of client households served by the A2H National Network are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits; however, it is likely that many more are eligible.
• Among households with children ages 0-3 years, 51% participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
• Among households with school-age children, 62% and 51%, respectively, participate in the federal school lunch and school breakfast programs.
• 29% of households served by the A2H National Network report having at least one household member in poor health.
• 92% of adult clients said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the amount of food they received from their A2H provider; 93% were satisfied with the quality of the food they received.
WHAT KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS OF THE A2H NATIONAL NETWORK?
• 74% of pantries, 65% of kitchens, and 43% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations.
• At the agency level, 69% of agencies with pantry, kitchen, or shelter and 56% of all agencies including those with other programs are faith-based.
• Private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation make up a large share of other types of agencies.
• 65% of pantries, 61% of kitchens, and 52% of shelters of the A2H National Network reported that there had been an increase since 2001 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites.
WHERE DO THESE AGENCIES OBTAIN THEIR FOOD?
• Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for the agencies, accounting for 74% of the food distributed by pantries, 49% of the food distributed by kitchens, and 42% of the food distributed by shelters.
• Other important sources of food include religious organizations, government, and direct purchases from wholesalers and retailers.
• 69% of pantries, 49% of kitchens, and 46% of shelters receive food from government commodity programs.
VOLUNTEERS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN THE A2H NETWORK
• As many as 90% of pantries, 86% of kitchens, and 71% of shelters in the A2H National Network use volunteers.
• Many programs rely entirely on volunteers; 66% of pantry programs and 40% of kitchens have no paid staff at all.
You can see the full results of the study by clickling on this link.
Below I've selected some of the major results from the study. I think you will find many of these results very interesting.
• The A2H system served an estimated 24 to 27 million unduplicated people annually. This includes 22 to 25 million pantry users, 1.2 to 1.4 million kitchen users, and 0.8 million shelter users (Table 4.2.1).• Approximately 4.5 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the A2H system in any given week.
• 36.4% of the members of households served by the A2H National Network are children under 18 years old.
• 8% of the members of households are children age 0 to 5 years.
• 10% of the members of households are elderly.
• About 40% of clients are non-Hispanic white; 38% are non-Hispanic black, and the rest are from other racial groups. 17% are Hispanic.
• 36% of households include at least one employed adult.
• 68% have incomes below the official federal poverty level.
• 12% are homeless.
• 42% of clients served by the A2H National Network report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.
• 35% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage.
• 32% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.
• 35% of client households served by the A2H National Network are receiving Food Stamp Program benefits; however, it is likely that many more are eligible.
• Among households with children ages 0-3 years, 51% participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
• Among households with school-age children, 62% and 51%, respectively, participate in the federal school lunch and school breakfast programs.
• 29% of households served by the A2H National Network report having at least one household member in poor health.
• 92% of adult clients said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the amount of food they received from their A2H provider; 93% were satisfied with the quality of the food they received.
WHAT KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS OPERATE EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS OF THE A2H NATIONAL NETWORK?
• 74% of pantries, 65% of kitchens, and 43% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations.
• At the agency level, 69% of agencies with pantry, kitchen, or shelter and 56% of all agencies including those with other programs are faith-based.
• Private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation make up a large share of other types of agencies.
• 65% of pantries, 61% of kitchens, and 52% of shelters of the A2H National Network reported that there had been an increase since 2001 in the number of clients who come to their emergency food program sites.
WHERE DO THESE AGENCIES OBTAIN THEIR FOOD?
• Food banks are by far the single most important source of food for the agencies, accounting for 74% of the food distributed by pantries, 49% of the food distributed by kitchens, and 42% of the food distributed by shelters.
• Other important sources of food include religious organizations, government, and direct purchases from wholesalers and retailers.
• 69% of pantries, 49% of kitchens, and 46% of shelters receive food from government commodity programs.
VOLUNTEERS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN THE A2H NETWORK
• As many as 90% of pantries, 86% of kitchens, and 71% of shelters in the A2H National Network use volunteers.
• Many programs rely entirely on volunteers; 66% of pantry programs and 40% of kitchens have no paid staff at all.
You can see the full results of the study by clickling on this link.
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