Analysis Of Ben Simon: The Food Recovery Network

American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous

On Tuesday evening, over fifty of our leaders from Auto, Innovation, and Recovery came to fight hunger and feed hope at the San Antonio Food Bank. Collectively they sorted through 20,330 pounds of food which resulted in 16,264 meals for the city of San Antonio and it's surrounding counties. It was an evening of camaraderie and fun that will never be forgotten.

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience of the workings of the Houston Food Bank and the concepts discussed during the course which were demonstrated through our volunteer experience.

First, I would like to give my opinion of whether this book was worthwhile at the beginning of this book review. Because I believe this is one of the most moving books written today about the problem of hunger in America. I also believe that this book should be required reading for every "elected official" who has the power to end the needless tragedy of hunger in America. This is a very well-written, well-researched book based on real people with real stories not just about numbers, trends, stats, or theories.

The original goal of the food lunch program was to feed malnourished school children and to help farmers by buying up some of their extra crops and commodities. This program worked well for 50 years and was a popular and accepted program. In the 1990’s the program was looked at and it was determined to look at and reinvent the school lunch program. There were many players in this reinvention and we have Helen Haas who is the head of the “food and nutrition services.” She is the lady who develops a feud with the School food service association. There are also other players in the story including, school food workers, parent and teacher groups, the farmers, dietary advocacy groups, the dairy council, meat council, and various health groups.

The service site is composed of hundreds of people, from all over the state of Illinois, from different walks of life, looking to fulfill one mission; to help people. Not only are we composed of a diverse group of people, but we serve a diverse group of people. There is diversity in every aspect from race, religion, socioeconomical and employment status. Hunger is not only experienced by people suffering homelessness. We serve more people who works part time and fulltime jobs more than homeless or elderly people. The diversity I was submerged in forced me to question the factors of hunger, of course. The many reasons we discussed in class, such as food deserts and low working wages, are high weighing factors for people experiencing hunger in this and surround communities. Learning and acknowledging these facts allows for a decent plan of

A direct action that resonated with me from the course readings was that of the Mass Hunger Clinics provided by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty(OCAP), starting in 2005. The Mass Hunger Clinic resonated with me because it is, for me, something real. It is a struggle that I see every day at work with a lot of my students and I have been for many years part of the food for learning program with my school board. The lack of nutritious foods and the resources to obtain them is something that shouldn’t happen. It made me very upset to think about these families and the length they had to go to in order to provide for both themselves and their families. The OCAP developed these Mass Hunger Clinics as an “initiative focused on the special diet

down by the government and he was becoming continually frustrated and fed-up at this point. When

Their program consists of a food bank where anyone can donate food or money. This is all provided at an on campus resource center. The center consists of a food pantry, laundry facilities, lockers and workshops. Cleveland’s program has proven success because within the first five months, faculty and staff donated over 9,500 pounds of food. This program could be useful in a college like NJC, because it is part of a strong community that comes together; they would be able to raise tons of pounds of food through this program that they could use for athletes. “Many colleges offer food banks and are increasing efforts to help students” (Farkas).

The South Texas Food Bank was one of the many agencies that we were working with through Rebranding the Border, a non-profit social venture that I co-founded. Rebranding the Border, at the time was focused on tackling one of the many side effects of the ongoing border violence, a decrease in the number of volunteers assisting local community organizations. Through Rebranding the Border we were able to set up partnerships and deliver

Have you eaten today? Can you eat today? For many in America and across the world the answer to those questions is no. Having a meal and to afford one is difficult. In 1984, Billy and Debbie Shore founded the Share Our Strength organization as a response to the famine in Ethiopia. As time continued, Billy raised more than $600 million for the organization to fight against hunger and poverty. It soon branched off into smaller chains such as No Kids Hungry and Cooking Matters. Through the campaigns of No Kid Hungry and Cooking Matters, Share Our Strengths is on a mission to end childhood hunger and to teach low-income families how to shop and cook healthier.

On August 4, 2015, Vivian Cu and I chose to volunteer at the Second Harvest Food Bank located on 700 Edwards Ave. in New Orleans. Our Tuesday morning of service started at 9AM and ended around 11:30AM. In preparation for my first time at Second Harvest, I wore comfortable clothes that were easy to move around in and that were possible to get dirty in. The man in charge of all volunteer services, Vince, quickly gave me my duty for the day. There is a huge case of canned goods and my job was to put as many canned goods as possible on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt would carry these cans to many aisles where other volunteers would put them into smaller boxes that had to weigh from fifteen to thirty pounds. After packaging these boxes, Second

Feeding America started as a clearinghouse for national food donations. Now it's the nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization, a powerful and efficient of 200 food banks across the country. For 35 years Feeding America has responded to America hunger emergencies, and has done a good job at it. The perception of food banks was started by John Van Hengel in the late 60s. Van Hengel born in Waupun, WIi, a retired businessman, was volunteering his time at soup kitchens giving food to people who couldn’t buy food for themselves. One day a poor mom was fishing through the grocery store garbage bins to find food for her family, She suggested that there should be a place where, instead of being thrown out, discarded food could be stored for people to pick up—similar to the way “banks” store money for future use. With that idea is what started the food bank business. ( feedingamerica.org )

In the story The Good Food Revolution, Will Allen talks about his struggles as an African American male trying to live out his dream of sustaining a profitable farming career while doing well for the community. What started as a small roadside market is now a national business which helps low-income families gain access to healthy foods and also helps build a better community. Throughout his journey, Allen experienced countless setbacks and was exposed to several issues dealing with race. Access to healthy food is a struggle for the poor, and in particular, African Americans.

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh