Zion Men take Action Against Hunger

 

Hunger Action at Second Harvest

The men of Zion Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids worked hard on Tuesday, Sept. 8th packing 720 boxes (15 pallets) of commodity food for area seniors and children. This group of men meet at Second Harvest once a month for fellowship and service to the community. They don't need a special month for hunger action!
Stay tuned to see how many boxes the Retired Educators and Alliance Church produce next week!

September is Hunger Action Month!

Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, in conjunction with Feeding America, announces the second annual Hunger Action Month, a nationwide call-to-action effort to mobilize people everywhere to get involved with ending hunger in America.

One in eight Americans struggles with hunger. That’s why Feeding America and Second Harvest North Central Food Bank are asking everyone to take action during Hunger Action Month and Give a Little, Feed a Lot.

Throughout September, join millions of other Americans in giving a little of yourself …money, time, voice … whatever you can … to feed the hungry in your community.

The goal of Hunger Action Month is to mobilize the public to help feed the people in need, right here in our own community, who don’t have the resources to provide for themselves. This September is our opportunity to create a movement that has a real and lasting impact on our efforts to help our neighbors. Very high unemployment, cuts in work hours and increasing poverty are causing more and more people to turn to Second Harvest and our network of partner agencies for hunger relief. We need help now, more than ever.

The smallest gift can make a big difference to those in need. Each dollar donated to Second Harvest Food Bank provides up to five meals for someone in our community living at risk of hunger. A five dollar donation provides at least 15 meals. Second Harvest can make a little money feed a lot of people.

Participants in Give a Little, Feed a Lot can commit to volunteer, advocate, organize a food drive, or donate to Second Harvest Food Bank.

Local events to coincide with Hunger Action Month include:

· Donate your lunch promotion: Donate what you normally spend on lunch for a day, a week or a month, whatever you can. We will make sure it feeds a lot.

· Pampered Chef demonstration and fundraiser on September 16^th at Second Harvest from 2 to 4pm

· Applebee’s Pancake Breakfast September 19^th, Grand Rapids Applebee’s 8-10am

· Bloomer’s Garden Center Scare Away Hunger Make a Scarecrow event Sept. 25 and 26^th

· The Grand Rapids/Itasca Crop Walk is scheduled for October 4^th.

· All events are designed to raise funds and awareness of hunger issues and the important role Second Harvest has in hunger relief in the area. For more information on Hunger Action Month or any of the events, contact Second Harvest at 326.4420.

Gerald Stejskal 2009 Outstanding Senior Volunteer

On Friday, dedicated volunteer Gerald (Jerry) Stejskal was named Outstanding Senior Volunteer at a celebration at the Itasca County Fair. One of two outstanding seniors presented with this year's honor, Jerry has been a volunteer at Second Harvest since 2002. He showed up one day at the old food bank building looking for ways to help and he has been volunteering at least twice a week ever since.
Jerry can be depended on to do whatever is needed; stock the food shelf, pick up donated bread, work in the re-pack room, assemble boxes for the holiday program or carry out for people coming for food. He is a core member of the "Pie Guys" working every Monday and Thursday mornings to stock the food shelf.
Second Harvest relies on people like Jerry who give of their time to help others. We couldn't provide food for thousands of people every week without the support of many volunteers.
Congratulations Jerry - Super Volunteer.

Missing Meals

During the summer we raise awareness about the stress on low-income families when children are at home and not getting meals at school. Children are missing the lunch, and often the breakfast, they receive at school every week day. Food shelves and other hunger relief organizations help provide those missing meals.

Another way to think of missing meals is the gap between the meals people provide for themselves through wages or other earned income, the meals provided by government sources like food stamps, school meals and WIC, the meals provided by charity such as food shelves and food bank programs and the amount of food required to meet minimum standards. A study done by Second Harvest Heartland Food Bank in St. Paul, an released in March of this year provides county by county data on how large this gap is in Minnesota. Check out www.missingmeals.org to see the full report.

The report shows that in the seven counties served by Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, individuals who’s incomes are at 185% or less of the federal poverty guidelines, provide between 59% and 65% of their meals through their own cash resources. Public sources: federal food stamps (SNAP), school meals, summer feeding, WIC, Commodity programs (Mac & Naps, TEFAP, and state food shelf funding, provide between 15% and 26% of their meals. Non-profits like food shelves, community meals, afterschool snack programs and other food bank programs provide between 4% and 6% of the meals required.

The gap between these food sources and minimum food requirements are the “Missing Meals”. In north central Minnesota, the gap is between 8% in Mille Lacs county and 17% in Aitkin county. Our challenge is to find ways to fill these gaps and provide people with adequate food.