It feels like just yesterday I was just finalizing our 30 Ways in 30 Days Hunger Action Month calendar.  I am devoting this blog post to all those who got involved with this year’s HAM and thanking everyone that helped make it happen. This year we did some new and exciting things to help raise awareness about hunger in our community.

The goal of our calendar was to show that even small actions can make a deep impact on the problem of hunger. We were super excited to receive a lot of positive feedback and can’t wait to make next year even bigger and better!

Hunger Action Month would not be possible without the support of our community partners.  They held partial proceeds nights at their restaurants, donated food, organized events for us and even let us join in their monthly community events. All our partners were very supportive and helped get the word out about Hunger Action Month.

 Thank you!

This year we also pushed the color of hunger relief, Orange.  Huge thanks to everyone that wore Orange in September in support of Hunger Action Month. 

Below is a slideshow of orange shirts that were worn during HAM:

A special thanks to the City of Orlando! The City got involved and lit the Lake Eola Fountain Orange!

“The City of Orlando is lighting the iconic fountain in Downtown’s Lake Eola Park the color orange this September in support of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Hunger Action Month campaign,” says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.  “The City is committed to draw attention to help address the problem of hunger and poverty in Central Florida. We hope that the orange glow of the fountain will prompt local citizens to take the pledge to fight hunger and do what  they can to help feed those in need in our community.”

This year we also launched http://www.CFLHungerAction.org! We will continue to use the site to highlight future events and to post community food drives. So make sure to check back soon because the fall is always filled with so many amazing events that the Central Florida community puts together for us.  

Thank you for helping to Fight Hunger and Feed Hope this September!

We hope you continue to follow us this fall. Below are some links that will help keep you updated:

• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Receive our E-news
• Sign up for a Food for Thought Tour

Did you like our 30 Ways in 30 Days Calendar? What other types of events would you like to see more of next year during Hunger Action Month?

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

Our intern Melissa Kear, wraps up Hunger Action Month in this latest blog post. 

October is just around the corner, and with it (we hope!) comes cooler weather! Using our 30 Ways in 30 Days calendar, you can count down the last days of September and support Hunger Action Month every day of the week.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit our main facility for one of our popular Food for Thought Tours, please plan to join us Wednesday, September 21, 2011  6 pm for a special Food Bank tour of Second Harvest Food Bank. RSVP is required at CFLHungerAction.org. Spend one very interesting  hour with us learning about hunger in Central Florida and what Second Harvest is doing to help.

Celebrate Thursday with pizza! NYPD Pizza’s College Park location will be donating 15% of your bill to the food bank from 4-10pm when you mention “Second Harvest”.  Who knew you could give back while munching on your favorite NYPD Pizza slice, and what a great way to mark off your calendar!

Want to do more to help fight hunger? Take Friday and set up a time to volunteer at Second Harvest!  Find out more about volunteering opportunities at FeedHopeNow.org, and learn what you can do to help support your community. What better way to strike Friday off your calendar than by taking a step to be more involved in helping to fight hunger.

If you have extra time Saturday, help support Hunger Action Month by taking a quick shopping trip to pick up and donate critical need items.  Some of these items included: meals in a can, canned tuna, nonfat dry milk, peanut butter, oatmeal, nutritional drinks, dry beans, evaporated milk, canned vegetables, canned soups, pastas, rice, and baby food.  These items are all important in providing nutritional foods to those in need, and in many cases can be found in your local grocery store’s buy one get one free deals.

Sunday, register your school food drive and get a free toolkit. It’s an easy and efficient way to give back and help your community.  If registering and running a food drive isn’t in your schedule, check out our calendar to find other local food drives and how you can help support them and your community.

The start of a workweek can be a little crazy, so if you are short on time Monday, head over to our website, where you can donate a gift to help hunger.  Every dollar donated can provide up to $9 worth of food, so whether you can spare a little or a lot, your donation will be making a difference!

In case you can’t make our Wednesday’s Food for Thought Tour, join us Tuesday the 27th at 11:30 am to make our last tour of September.  Remember to RSVP at CFLHungerAction.org to join us for an hour tour of the food bank.  We look forward to seeing you!

Your support for Hunger Action Month has been amazing, and we are excited to see Central Florida come together to help fight hunger.  From September 18th – September 24th, Downtown Orlando will be lighting the Fountain at Lake Eola orange in support of Hunger Action Month, so take some time to stroll around the lake, reflect on the events of this month, and send us all of your pictures by the orange lighted fountain on Facebook or share them with us on Twitter, and thank you again for all that you do to support Hunger Action Month and Second Harvest Food Bank.

Melissa Kear
Second Harvest Food Bank intern

I’m super excited to introduce you to Melissa Kear, our fall intern. She has been doing an outstanding job and she has only been here 2 weeks. Look for more Hunger Action Month updates from her.

You know Labor Day Weekend is just around the corner when the grills are coming out, the store ads are streaked with holiday specials, and the television lineup is full of programs about barbecuing and dinner parties.  For some of us, we are just ready for that extra day off or an extended weekend, but while we are at the store stocking up on bags of chips, packs of hot dogs, and that extra large bag of charcoal, did you know that 1 in 4 children in Central Florida will be going to bed hungry tonight?

With an alarming statistic like that, it is hard not to pause and wonder what you can do to change those numbers  With the help of our 30 Ways in 30 Days calendar, we have made it easy for you to help fight hunger during your Labor Day holiday.

Start off your Sunday with a “Like” on our Facebook page! Help us hit 3,000 Likes for September, plus keep up with your community food bank and the many ways you can help throughout the year, or ways that you yourself can find help in tough times.

On Labor Day, head on over to Five Guys Burgers & Fries to load up on double-stacked burgers and hand cut fries from 5-9pm.  They will be donating 10% of sales to the Second Harvest Food Bank, so make sure to mention us when you go in!

If burgers aren’t your thing, Tuesday is the day for crabs, from Joe’s Crab Shack that is!  Bring in our calendar flyer from 11 am to 11 pm, and Joe’s Crab Shack will donate 10% of your bill to Second Harvest Food Bank.  

As the week progresses, get over Hump Day by visiting the Cheesecake Factory.  For every Hershey’s Chocolate Bar Cheesecake you purchase, $0.25 goes to Feeding America.

By the time Thursday comes around, the weekend is in sight!  Make dinner time easier by ordering at NYPD Pizza in College Park. From 4 pm to 10 pm, they will be donating 15% of your bill to Second Harvest. All you need to do is mention Second Harvest plus this is good for dine-in or delivery.

Don’t worry, we’ve made Friday even easier! Follow us on Twitter at @2HarvestCFL and use the hash tag #hungeraction to join in on the hunger conversation or share it with friends.

Finally, wind down on Saturday by visiting choosemyplate.org. Learn how easy it can be to include all 5 food groups into your meals and learn to start eating healthier!  You will find lots of resources, recipes, tips to get you and your family healthy and eating right.

Remember, September is Hunger Action Month, which means everyday is a chance to do something to benefit your community and fight the hunger epidemic that is plaguing our neighbors and friends.  

Never think that 10% or 15% of your bill can’t make a difference.  For every $1 Second Harvest receives, it puts out $9 in food value.  That means if 10% of your bill is only $3, that is $27 worth of food that has just been given to somebody in need.

From everybody at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, have a great Labor Day Weekend, and thank you for all that you do!

Melissa Kear
Second Harvest Food Bank intern

Once a month, teachers at an Orange County elementary school receive a delivery of small, shrink-wrapped packages. These packs include kid-friendly food items that are calorically-correct for an elementary-age student for two days.  On Fridays, teachers move from room to room, slipping the precious weekend food packs into the backpacks of the students that they know are at the greatest risk of being hungry when school begins again on Monday.  

Matthew is an eight-year old student at this school. One Friday afternoon, he eagerly opened his backpack before heading for home. His instant disappointment quickly turned to tears when he saw no food pack inside.  

His teacher reports that he burst out crying in front of the other students, saying “But, I really, really needed that food…”

One of Matthew’s classmates, Jasmine, stepped up immediately and said, “Here, you can have this one—you need it more than me.”  

Matthew stopped crying, brightened up, and thanked his friend over and over for sharing. Two very important things occurred in this situation. First, it underscored for teachers how big the need really was among their students’ families, and that it isn’t always easy to ‘spot’ the ones who need help.  

Second, it pointed out how quickly and profoundly an extended helping hand can change a person’s outlook. A little empathy, sacrifice, and generosity on Jasmine’s part went a long way; we can all learn something from her act of kindness.  

Thanks to the generosity of contributors throughout the community, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida was able to distribute more than 38,000 weekend feeding packs for kids last year through its “Hi-Five” program. But many more schools, and many more students like Matthew and Jasmine need help.

As more support is received, more outreach can be accomplished. One student at a time.  

September is Hunger Action Month. To play a role in ending hunger and learn more, visit: http://www.CFLHungerAction.org

Greg Higgerson, CFRE
Vice-President, Development

Hunger Action Month starts today!  While we always need your involvement with Second Harvest Food Bank all year round, we do try to make it extra easy and fun in September!

Second Harvest, in conjunction with Feeding America and 205 other food banks nationwide are participating in the Third Annual Hunger Action Month. The goal of this month is to mobilize people to get involved with fighting hunger in America.

With the help of amazing local corporate partners, we have come up with a “30 Ways in 30 Days” Calendar. We’ll be counting down our 30 day calendar in weekly blog posts, so make sure to sign up to receive them in your mailbox (on the top left of this page).

You might say “Wait a minute!  You just told me there are 3 easy ways to get involved not 30! Below you can find three easy ways to start spreading the word about hunger right here in Central Florida.

 3 easy ways to get involved:

 1) Attend at least one event on our 30 Ways in 30 Days Calendar

For Hunger Month we have partnered with Cheese Cake Factory, Joe’s Crab Shack, Firestone Live!, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, NYPD Pizza, Mochi Downtown, Third Thursday Gallery Walk, Eden Bar, City of Orlando and Enzian Theater!  Check out our calendar to see how these amazing local businesses are getting involved with Hunger Action Month!

 2) Visit: http://www.CFLHungerAction.org

Our Hunger Action Month website is an online calendar of all the events happening in September. From there you can also sign the hunger pledge and learn about more ways to get involved with Second Harvest.  

 3) Share with your friends, family and co-workers

We hope you love social media as much as we do! Just look for the social media share buttons on all our pages and events. Just click the button and it will automatically share the information you are looking at with your facebook friends or twitter followers. Also, if you pick up a calendar or a postcard at an event, make sure to grab two. One for you and one for a friend.

Did you know that One in Five Central Floridians struggles with Hunger? This story made the front page of the Orlando Sentinel this morning: Nearly a third of Central Florida children may lack adequate nutrition. Join us in changing these statistics by getting involved.

In the great words of Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

 Anyone want to try to complete all 30 ways in September? How do you plan on getting involved this September? 

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

Second Harvest Food Bank invites you to participate in:

A photography contest that brings light to the invisible problem of hunger in our community and the simple solutions.

Portraits of Hunger is back! We’re calling on photographers of all experience levels to capture your vision of the simple solutions Central Floridians are finding to solve the problem of hunger in our community. It could be sharing a meal with a stranger, helping out a family in need or shooting a group of volunteers making a difference at their local food pantry. You are only limited by your vision for a hunger-free Central Florida.

Enter Photography Contest >>

Top photos will be voted by the public on http://www.PortraitsofHunger.org in September. All the photos will be showcased at Enzian’s Eden Bar on Friday, September 30 at 7:30 pm. Our three judges will decide on the winning photo and the winner will be announced that evening.

The winner of Portraits of Hunger will have their photo displayed at Enzian Theater. This is a great opportunity for a photographer to get some exposure. Thank you Enzian Theater! If you would like to shoot photos at our facility please contact Jen Gibson at jgibson@foodbankcentralflorida.org to make an appointment.

Deadline to submit photos is Friday, September 2, 2011.

For additional information contact:
Jen Gibson at jgibson@foodbankcentralflorida.org or 407-295-5009 ext 28

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Many people today are overwhelmed and frustrated with what seem to be unfixable problems, or things out of their control. Just look around at the Gulf oil spill and its long-term effects, a Gainesville pastor’s stance on the Quran, congressional issues and so many more examples, including in our own personal lives. Wouldn’t it be great if we could find something we could wrap our own hands around and make a difference?

There is a pressing problem that we all can rally around and do something about: hunger in our community. The ongoing economic situation, unemployment, under-employment and plummeting retirement accounts and property values have all created a perfect storm for emergency food assistance among a large portion of the population.

Last year, Second Harvest Food Bank’s Hunger Study showed that about 25 percent of Central Florida’s population received food assistance. That’s 732,000 people, and nearly 300,000 are children. That’s a problem. What can you do about it?

September is Hunger Action Month, an effort to fight hunger. The only way we can close the gap is with continued community assistance. You can seek out a number of local organizations that could use your support in terms of volunteering, financial assistance or food donations

At Second Harvest Food Bank, we offer you “30 Ways in 30 Days,” with activities ranging from food drives and a Junior League Harvest Hustle to our Portraits of Hunger photo contest.

All are designed to provide support for people in need and offer a variety of levels of engagement. If you can’t take action in September, the problem will still be here in October.

Everyone can help. Here’s one poignant example: One day an elementary-school girl named Alli saw some of her classmates Dumpster diving. That night, she cried to her mom that they must do something about the situation. Alli came up with a plan and in a few months raised $5,000 to help start a new Second Harvest Kids Café downtown.

To this day, that café continues to provide thousands of meals to children. Alli’s a reminder to all of us — young and old, wealthy or not — that each of us can find a way to take meaningful action in the fight against hunger. It’s a problem that can be solved.

We can make a tangible impact upon hunger relief because every can of soup, box of cereal, volunteer hour or dollar donated translates into one of the most basic needs of every person — food. Please consider taking action; it’s good for the community, and it’s good for the soul.

Dave Krepcho is president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Can you believe that we are halfway through Hunger Action Month? What actions have you taken so far from our 30 Ways in 30 Days calendar? I would love any feedback or ideas you may have on our calendar.

I have been super busy promoting our calendar via our social media channels. I am happy to report that people have been sharing my links daily. If you would like to receive updates from us … like us on facebook or follow us on twitter. We would love to interact with you via these channels.

Since there are 15 more days left of Hunger Action Month, I wanted to give you a quick rundown of some fun and quick actions you can take this week.

Today you can participate in Kraft’s Text to Give campaign. Text the word “MEALS” and your zip code to 71717 and Kraft will donate a meal to Second Harvest Food Bank. This is part of the Huddle to Fight Hunger Campaign. Everytime someone joins the huddle in Central Florida a meal gets donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. And guess what … Florida is in second place! 

On Friday, September 17 fight hunger with just one click. Download Pampered Chef’s Cookbook for a Cause for free and a meal with be donated to Feeding America. Pampered Chef’s goal is to donate 10 million pounds of food this year. You can help them reach this goal by downloading this exclusive celebrity cookbook.

You can actually do this action every day till September 23. Vote for the hunger image that moves you the most! Online voting for our Portraits of Hunger Photography contest has started. We have received over 900 votes already. Remember, you can vote as many times as you want.

We need your help in choosing the top 3 photos. After that, our 3 judges will choose the winner. The winner of Portraits will be announced along with a display of all photo entries at our showcase party. The winner will have their photo showcased at The Enzian Theater for a month!

Here are the details:
Portraits of Hunger Showcase Party
Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Enzian’s Eden Bar – 1300 South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751
Bring a food donation (non-perishable) and receive a free Peroni. 1 free Peroni per person.

Until next week! 

Maria Diestro
Online Service and Communications Manager