Feeding America Charity

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.

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.

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

Harvesters Community Food Network is an organization that “provides food and related household products to more than 620 not-for-profit agencies” around the Kansas City metropolitan area (“Harvesters”). It is such a wonderful organization in that it really focuses on making a change in our surrounding cities. I am

“Feeding America is a non-profit organization created by John Van Hengel in the 1960’s” ("U.S. Hunger Relief Charity | Feeding America®," 2015). He was a retired business man who would volunteer at a local soup kitchen to feed the hungry| (Feeding America®," 2015). “He came upon the idea after a women was desperately looking for food to feed her children”, “she suggested to him there should be a place to store unwanted food instead of throwing it out for trash so the hungry can go and pick up the unwanted food”| (Feeding America®," 2015). Feeding America does not sell products it provides services. It’s an organization which provides the less fortunate and low-income families with free food through nationwide food banks across America| (Feeding America®," 2015). Van Hengel created his first establishment in Phoenix Arizona, and named it Saint Mary’s Food Bank| (Feeding America®," 2015). After several years Van Hengel along with his team the organization “distributed over 275,000 pounds of food to those in need”| (Feeding America®," 2015). In “1977, 18 cities began establishing food banks to serve those in need”| (Feeding America®," 2015). In “1979, the Second Harvest was created, which was later called America’s Second Harvest the Nation’s Food Bank Network” | (Feeding America®," 2015). In “2008. it became known as Feeding America, now our nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization” | (Feeding America®," 2015). “There are over 200 regional food banks located across

Feeding America is a United States organization that consists of nationwide network of more than two hundred food banks and food rescue organization that serves the United States as well as Puerto Rico. It is the nation leading hunger relief charity. In the late 1060s, John van Hengel, a retired businessman in Phoenix, began volunteering at a local soup kitchen, and began soliciting food donations for the kitchen. He ended up with far more food than the kitchen could use and when he talked to his client around that time, she told him she regularly feeds her family with food discarded from the grocery store’s garbage bins. He then got an idea where there could be a place where discarded food items could be stored so that

In conclusion, hunger in America is at an all time high due to poverty and the economy. The increasingly high number of starving children has gone up over the past years and needs to be stopped. There are government programs set up to help stop hunger in American, such as, SNAP Food Stamps and WIC. We can get involved by volunteering with Feeding America or other non-for-profit organizations set for feeding the hungry. Food donations and monetary donations have always been a great way to help out for those who don’t have the time to donate.

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.

Feeding America is providing safe and nurturing places for children and families to have a meal, while also providing nutritional foods for seniors in need. Additionally, Feed America is present during national disaster recoveries, providing much needed emergency food assistance to victims and communities. Their services afford adults a chance to break

Imagine your stomach growling, a feeling of emptiness, fatigue, and an inability to concentrate. Most people would associate these feelings with hunger and eat. Unfortunately, many Americans do not have the luxury of eating because of living in poverty. According to the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of people living in poverty rose from 31.6 million in 2000 to 36.5 million in 2006. The number of people living in households facing food insecurity rose from 31 million in 1999 to 35.5 million in 2006. More than 12 million of the people living in food insecure households were children (Labue, 2009). Food America (2017) reports:

Hunger throughout America is something that 12 million Americans are battling with everyday. That’s one in every six people (dosomething.org) In Texas alone, 4,320,050 people are tackling hunger and of those 4,320,050 people, 1,713,430 are children- or one in four children throughout Texas (Feeding America). Throughout North Texas, “the number of people living in poverty is 631,261” (Glean Texas). Since hunger is tied to poverty, it is assumed that those living in poverty in North Texas are also living with hunger insecurities. To brighten things up a bit, Flower Mound, is considered to be a more wealthier town in North Texas. Ranked by the American City Business, Flower Mound is “number 21 on a list of the top 50 cities in the Southern

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 )

Road Runner Food Bank has been beneficial in fighting the war against hunger in the state of New Mexico. This organization assists in feeding an overwhelming number of people, including infants and school age children. It is truly a blessing for many. Hunger is a main concern for New Mexico. The co-founder of Road Runner Food Bank has taken an oath to stop this problem. This program distributes more than twenty three million pounds of food to our state a year. Although they have ran into some problems they have usually managed to overcome these obstacles. Road Runner Food Bank is an organization that stores and collects food for our state. They donate and feed the less fortunate people. The ware house is stocked with thousands of pounds of donated food that is distributed to the less fortunate. They ease the pain of hunger for our state which has been very beneficial for us. New Mexico’s Road Runner Food Bank is a non- profit organization. Their annual revenue is about $42,397,488. This is due to the fact that they have acquired a great amount of donors and sponsors over the years. They also hold several fund raisers as well as other special events for promoting and supporting the warehouse. Road Runner food bank has impacted our state greatly. They are an organization whose primary goal is to feed the hungry. The many volunteers and paid staff inspect the food donations on a daily basis to

There are so many people in this world today, that are not aware of the huge storage in our local food bank community. Per the Houston food bank the goal of the Feeding America program is to make food accessible to feed hungry people in their greatest times of need. Therefore, our team is gear up to break the food shortage in defining the problem, analyze the cause, identify criteria, potential solutions and selecting the best solution.

In 2014, a foundation called Feeding America did a survey on the people they serve and found that in order to stretch their food budgets 79% of them purchase inexpensive and unhealthy food in order to stay fed. This can seriously impact their health, because no matter the age, healthy bodies and minds require nutritious meals. In some cases, food insecurity can even lead to Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity. These are just a few examples of why food insecurity is so harmful. Fortunately, there are many organizations, clubs, and foundations that are committed to ending hunger in America, and eventually the world. The first step to solving this problem is spreading information, and realizing just how dangerous food insecurity is, and who it affects. After learning these things, you may want to help and there are many ways to do that. I’m sure in the past, you've donated food to the annual canned food drive our school puts on, and that’s just one way you can contribute to solving this problem. There are many organizations that ask for donations and will put your money to great use, for example every dollar you donate to Feeding America will provide 11 meals for a child in need.If you don’t have food or money to donate, you can donate