Second Harvest Heartland Case Study

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.

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.

When resources are limited, children struggle to stay in school and tend to fall behind. According to a census of the area in which Harvesters provides food to, “20 percent of children under age 18 in our region… is food insecure,” and of that twenty percent, “38 percent of the food insecure children live in households that do not qualify for federal nutrition programs” (“Harvesters”). My heart breaks every time I hear there are children starving in the world, but it is even more heartbreaking to know there are children in my hometown that are struggling to live off of the very little food they are provided. This is why I love this program because nothing is more fulfilling than seeing the eyes of a child light up when they see all that they get to take home with

“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

Considering the following statistics, it is clear why Hunger Free Colorado’s work is so important: Nearly 1 in 7 Coloradans struggled with hunger in 2013, facing times when there was not enough money to buy food for their families or themselves (Colman-Jenson, Gregory, & Singh, 2013). More than 1 in 5 Colorado households with children (22%) reported food hardship, facing financial challenges to put food on the table (Food Research and Action Center, 2013). More than 1 in 8 Coloradans lived in poverty, including 1 in 6 kids, during 2013 (Bishaw & Fontenot, 2014).

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

A discourse community follows Swales’ six characteristics: members share common goals, has a form of communication, a form of feedback, genres, a specific lexis, and has a level of expertise all within the group (Swales 25). I believe the Future Farmers of America is a great candidate for this topic for that it falls in to the categories listed by Swales. The start of Future Farmers of America came in 1900s in the state of Virginia. Adolescent to teenage males were not interested in farming and did not want to take over the family farms. This led to a homegrown farmer becoming the supervisor of Agriculture Education and set out to fix this problem, Walter Newman. With the help of Edmund C, Magill, Harry W. Sanders and the most influential Henry

Founded in 1985, Second Harvest is the largest food rescue organization in Canada. With their vision “No Waste. No Hunger”, this organization aims at rescuing and delivering fresh, surplus food to people experiencing hunger (Second Harvest, n.d). Second Harvest rescues food from 600 food donors, including restaurants, supermarkets, food warehouses, hotels and other small organizations. Each morning, 10 refrigerated trucks leave the warehouse and deliver food to over 253 social service agencies around the GTA and 15 food hubs across Ontario, such as kitchens, shelters, food banks, community centers and drop-in centers. These agencies cater to marginalized populations who are unable to buy their own food, including homeless people, young

Purpose: To persuade my audience to feed people in America that are less fortunate than we are.

Hunger is a big social issue facing America today. According to (“Do Something.com”) 1 out of 6 people face hunger in the US. Also 49 Million Americans Struggle to put food on the table. America is the best country in world, we shouldn’t have so many people hungry. Many people have thought of fixing this problem but one company has found a way to help fix this problem, this company is Feeding America. They have been giving people food since 1979. They’ve helped out 46 million Americans. ( feedingamerica.org )

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

Though many local food banks and schools have contributed to fixing this issue, there is much more that can be done alleviate the problem. Contacting Solano County’s schools and community leaders to expand summer food programs will benefit students who rely on school food for their daily meals. Furthermore, working with care and homes centers will not only assist the staff members, but will also ensure children and adults get a nutritional meal every day. Donating cans of food whenever there is a food drive at school or any place asking is another way to provide food for those who need it. Raising awareness to those who do not know about local food drives and programs will also help. Of course, there is always an option to start a new food drive. By lending a helping hand, there will be more smiles on the faces of children and adults who have not done so in a long

The second part of the book focused on the various organizations and institutions aimed at improving food security for those in need. There are “thirty-seven million Americans and fourteen million children who rely on food assistance” (Carney 2015:135). This represents an increase from previous years. The book criticizes the

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.

The Ralston Farmers Market currently meets downtown and has no permanent home. Farmers markets have seen an increase in market numbers by 349% between 1991 to 2007 making them the fastest growing section of the food economy in the United States (Farmer). As put by Aucoin, “Local food movements revolve around taste, quality, human interaction, and the pleasure of consumption”, with this in mind a permanent structure could help to create a more stable and sustainable local market in Ralston. A study of the Northampton MA food system recommended that permanent farmers market locations would help to strengthen the local food economy and positively impact not only the vendors but the entire community (Barbour). Permanent