Essay about Community Report: Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services

During my second week of my community health hours, I was placed at River City Food Bank. River City Food Bank’s main goal is to lessen hunger in the Sacramento region by offering healthy food and assistance to vulnerable populations. They do not only provide healthy food but they also provide nutrition education and counseling. In addition, they provide diapers for babies and the older population. They also provide health services for mothers and assist them with contraceptives and other important education for their women daily life. Their mission is to help people from all ages, from homeless to the working poor and families who are struggling.

Thesis Statement: The Houston Food Bank uses the efforts of volunteers as well as donations to support the reduction of hunger in the community.

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.

Many of the people living in food deserts are people with low income. These low-income families often turn to the junk food provided at the convenience stores and fast food restaurants because it is all they can afford. Socio-economic status is a defining characteristic of food deserts. Food deserts are most commonly found in areas dominated by minorities and low-income families. Studies show that wealthy areas have about triple the amount of supermarkets as poor urban areas do. In addition to this, predominantly white communities have about 4 times as many grocery stores as predominantly black ones do. Studies also show that grocery stores in African-American neighborhoods are usually smaller and have less option when it comes to the

During the time I spent volunteering at John C. Lincoln’s Food Bank, I was able to provide food, individual hygiene items, and infant supplies to families struggling to obtain these critical items for their families. When I first arrived at the food bank, I spent time constructing care packages with soap, toothbrushes, personal wipes, and other essential items for health care. Later in the day, I had the unique opportunity to assist with the simulated grocery store within the food bank. The structure of the store allowed individuals receiving food to feel as though they were actively participating instead of passively accepting food and feeling helpless. Overall, I was able to instill a sense of self-efficiency in individuals who were struggling to provide for their families while personally interacting and sharing my time in a meaningful way.

What happens if there were no more grocery stores or the economy suffered food shortage that threatened your families ability to eat? What do you do? How will you sustain? These are the questions that Finley was prepared to fight for in his local south Los Angeles neighborhood, and these are the very questions Finley wants to help communities nationwide, including Sacramento, prepared to answer for themselves.

In the 80s the demand for services has continued to increase and Bread for the city experienced a dramatic growth within its organization. The non-profit served between 1, 000 and more than 3, 000 people. To meet the growing need “Bread for the city opened satellite sites throughout Northwest DC. In 1991, BFC opened its first satellite site in Southeast DC, distributing food and clothing from a loaned church basement. Services grew to include health and nutrition classes, counseling, and referral services” (Bread for the city, 2009-2016). As the year’s progresses, in a six year period and record of success, BFC has launched a campaign to build another building east of the Anacostia River in Southeast DC. When the building opened in October

Early one November morning a woman stared at me with utter disbelief, tears of gratitude streaming down her cheeks."Thank you," she mouthed silently to me, clutching her son to her chest. I was proud knowing that, because of my efforts, her family and many more who struggle with poverty would be able to share a Thanksgiving meal. I knew that many children in my community would not be able to celebrate the holiday as others might because their parents could not afford to buy food items, and so as Vice President of a community service club called Interact, I was inspired to provide these children with a Thanksgiving dinner. The club officers and I sat crowded around our adviser's desk brainstorming how we would collect ingredients. We decided

The act of interest about this specific world issue has helped me pursue in contributing to those who are in financial crisis. With the help of my First Religious Confirmation program, I was able to help multiple of low income families by providing them with donated essential clothes and foods at the Santa Ana Civic Center. My program and I advertised our special cause to the community and have obtained numerous of food cans and clothes that can provide about ten families. Making a difference in people's lives have brought me joy in making a positive influence to them. Nobody should not be alone in facing their struggle but to to open to others in helping them. Because businesses are limited with hiring employees, many people in poverty does

Our senior project’s purpose is to give back to our community and feed the less fortunate families in Long Beach. Just in our city alone there are more than 53,000 homeless families. Our target market is mainly the less fortunate families but we are opening it up to other groups as well. Our motivational values such as effort, teamwork, dedication, individual worth and integrity, folds our mission together. Long Beach is considered the 9th highest district of the less fortunate families in our major cities. Families become homeless because of many reasons such as job loss, violence, divorces, and family disputes. Other reasons follow such as depression, illness and stress. We want to be able to provide meaningful essentials

The first item on the agenda was the “ Analysis of the Food Insecurity Lectureship by the Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute.” Joanna Puddister-King led a discussion on the significance of information presented at the event. Several community organizations attended the meeting ( MS Food Network, Good Samaritans, Society for St Anthony, Jeremiah’s Bread, MS Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, etc.). They were extremely impressed by information they received and the panel discussion. They were also interested in our next events.

Food banks provide prevailing economic need as a distribution outlet for the federal government (USDA), and national local food sources. Food banks serve and help create an infrastructure of member’s agencies, food panties that provide food directly to food insecure seniors and other food insecure populations, soup kitchens and relief organizations. Food banks networks provide food support for over 37 million Americans yearly including 14 million children and over 3 million older adults. As of 2015 there were over 15, 000 food pantries throughout the United States. The majority of seniors that use food banks receive some social assistance, over 41% lived alone, and over 22% of food bank recipients in food insecure senior households had sought help from food banks, soup kitchens, or other charitable agencies to feed themselves in the past year (AARP, 2014, p. 29-30).

Last year there were 42 million Americans that lived in homes that were food insecure, and of those 42 million approximately 29 million were adults and 13 million were children. North Carolina accounted for nearly 16% of that 42 million, resulting in a little more that 6.5 million who are in need locally. I am James Coe the director of contributions for “The Need to Feed Foundation.” We are a publicly recognized doer of good and have helped define the industry standard as a leader in the NonProfit Sector for food banks. Last year we raised 250 thousand dollars and successfully served over 1 million people in need by using donations provided by generous people like you.

There were neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia where residents couldn’t easily buy healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. And science shows us that people who live in these underserved neighborhoods are more at risk for serious diet-related diseases like obesity(Food Trust website). They began with one farmers market at Tasker Homes, a public housing development in South Philadelphia. Once a week, with the help of the Tasker Homes Tenant Council, they set up one long table overflowing with produce. It happened to be the only source of fresh fruits and vegetables in the community. The Food Trust works with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers in Philadelphia and across the country to change how we all think about healthy food and to increase its availability. The Food Trust efforts with its partners resulted in the creation of the Fresh Food Financing Initiative. It was the nations first statewide financing program to increase supermarket development in underserved areas. The Food Trust is a nonprofit organization that continues to ensure that all children who live in communities have access to safe, healthy and affordable food. Their key goal of this project is to stimulate the development of supermarkets in lower-income neighborhoods.

Have you ever wondered where you would rest your head at night? Where you would find your next meal? How would support your family given unforeseen sudden circumstances? I’ve never thought about the importance of these questions until a recent experience I had volunteering at a food pantry. There are organizations whose main purpose is to help those in need and provide resources to members of the community who are going through difficult times. A food pantry is a non-profit community serviced organization that provides members of the community with groceries and resources. From volunteering at this food pantry I learned more than ever to never “judge a book, by its cover”, or in other words, even though I person may look well put together on the outside, you never know what it is they are dealing with on the inside. I’ve encountered homeless members of the community, people who have suffered from physical abuse, and people who have experienced unexpected disasters such as house fires to expected job layoffs while volunteering at a food pantry. I’ve also come to appreciate everything that I have in my life from the roof over my head to the food in my stomach and that some people are less fortunate than me.