Portraits of Hunger started in 2006 as a way to engage the community in bringing visibility to the invisible problem of hunger. Through this event, photographers of all abilities have gone out into their community to capture images that tell the story of hunger in Central Florida.

Last year 17 photographers participated in Portraits of Hunger. We received some pretty amazing photos of the faces and solutions of hunger in Central Florida. Below is a slideshow of their photo entries:

The winner of Portraits of Hunger 2009 was G.K. Sharman for her photograph titled: Courage.  

This year’s winner of Portraits of Hunger will have their photo displayed at Enzian Theater for a limited time. This is a great opportunity for a photographer to get some exposure. Thank you Enzian Theater!

So how does this photography contest work? The deadline to submit photos for Portraits of Hunger is Monday, August 30, 2010.

If you are interested, there is still time to enter the contest.  Click here to enter contest >>

From there the top ten photos will be chosen and posted on our website.

Online voting will start in early September. The top 3 winners will then be voted on by our three judges.

This year’s Portraits of Hunger judges are:
- Henry Maldonado, President of Enzian Theater
- Josh Garrick, Fine Art and Culture Writer for a series of news and on-line venues
- Dave Krepcho, President of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

The winner will be announced at our Portraits of Hunger Showcase party at Enzian’s Eden Bar on Thursday, September 30. All the photo entries will also be showcased at Eden Bar for that night.

Portraits of Hunger Showcase Party
Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Enzian’s Eden Bar – 1300 South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, FL 32751
Bring a food donation and receive a free Peroni. One free Peroni per person. But feel free to bring as many cans as you’d like!

Click here to view photos from last year’s Portraits of Hunger Showcase. Hope to see you at Eden Bar on September 30!

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

ConAgra Foods Foundation

We are so grateful to have the support from ConAgra Foods Foundation, Feeding America and Katharine McPhee. 
 
Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager
 
p.s. We love the song and can’t seem to get it out of our heads!

Today, MOSAIC, PepsiCo’s African-American employee network is organizing a day of service with Feeding America. PepsiCo volunteers will work in over 30 food banks nationwide to impact over 2 million people. 1,400 PepsiCo employees will generate more than 5,000 volunteer hours in one day. That’s a pretty incredible project!

Second Harvest Food Bank is excited to take part in PepsiCo’s Employee Day of Service. We are one of four food banks in Florida that is participating in this project. The other 3 food banks are in Tampa, Miami and Ft. Pierce. I went around and took photos and video of these employees hard at work.

Second Harvest Food Bank would like to thank PepsiCo for their time and commitment in the fight against hunger.  Enjoy the photos and video!

Pictures:

Video:

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

CVS/Caremark

Without the support of corporate partners like CVS/Caremark our job would be much harder. Volunteers help us get food into the hands of needy families quicker and more efficiently. In today’s society there is a renewed spirit in helping fellow Americans. Feeding America is glad that CVS/Caremark show their spirit of giving through involvement with our organization and member Food Banks.  

Photo Slideshow:

Sasha Hausman
Events Specialist

The Study

The study is broken up into two parts. The first part is a questionnaire mailed to each of our Partner Feeding Programs. We have 530 partner agencies and it takes quite a bit of coordination keep track of who’s completed the survey and determine if it was a paper form or online.

The second part of the survey is much more resource intensive. We have to visit a random group of our agencies and then complete an 80 question survey with a random sample of clients from the people present. Because this is more work than we can accomplish with just staff, we rely almost exclusively on volunteers for the interview.

Once all of the surveys are complete, we turn them in to Feeding America to process the results. One year later, we get a really large email with our results and put together our Hunger in Central Florida 2010 books. It is a long process, but the information learned about local hunger is invaluable.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs

Happy New Years!

Many of us have made a commitment to live a healthier life in 2010. For me, I’ll be involved in the Pound for Pound Challenge. For the food bank, it involves hiring a Nutrition Manager.   Next week I will begin to sort through all of the applications we’ve received for the new Nutrition Manager position we’re hiring at the food bank. This blog gives me the unique opportunity to include you in our program development process from design to implementation to evaluation.

 Before we begin any new program we complete a thorough research process that includes needs analysis, best practices studies, and pilot programs. One of the greatest benefits of our membership with Feeding America is access to the nationwide network of food banks throughout America. Combining ideas from the network and listening to the needs of our own agencies we are able to take this list of possible nutritionist tasks and whittle it down to a program with a specific strategic plan and outcomes. Here’s what we’ve determined to be our areas of focus for our Nutrition Manager:

•  Nutrition Education for Program participants: The food bank’s Strategic plan has an entire section devoted to our commitment to address the Childhood Obesity challenges faced specifically by children in food insecure households. Research continues to prove that children in low-income households consistently have a high rate of obesity. One of the main reasons for this is that the foods that are the healthiest happen to also be the most expensive. If the closest food store to your house is the gas station or convenience store, then your dollar is going to stretch even thinner. 
• Nutrition Analysis of our program food: Every year, about 10% of our food is acquired through our Power Purchase Center in order to provide participating agencies menu consistency. Our Nutritionist would be able to analyze the food we purchase and determine possible alternatives to make sure the items we can select for purchase is nutritionally optimal.

Like any of our programs, the Nutrition program will evolve with the community’s needs. It’s especially exciting to get the person in the position and see them run with the program that we’ve been honing for months. I’ll be sure to fill you in with another progress report once we hire the best candidate!

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs

It is always reinvigorating to meet up with over 400 food bankers from across the nation and share notes in a face to face format. On Tuesday I got to sit in a panel for new food bankers and share our experiences on Childhood Hunger programs, Hi-Five, Summer Feeding, and Kids Café.

It feels rewarding to be able to share all of our best practices with people that were in the same position I was in a number of years ago.

 On Wednesday, I had a presentation about the cutting edge practices we use in our Benefits Connection food stamp outreach program. This program has been an overwhelming success for us and after nonstop consultations with other food bankers; I’m down to my last business card.

Thursday Nitza Colon, our Benefits Connection Manager, had another presentation about our outreach program that instructed other food banks how to start their own food stamp programs. At the general session that afternoon the speaker from Feeding America said that “Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has turned food stamp outreach into an art form.” I feel like Picasso now.

Our Childhood Hunger manager, Santos Maldonado, and I received a plaque thanking us for our work as mentors for the Hi-five Kids pack program.

Accolades like this and being asked to speak at events such as this remind me how great Second Harvest is and how many other hunger relief agencies nationwide look to us as leaders in our field.

There is a lot more to our work than a warehouse full of food. Each of our programs strategically tackles a specific facet of hunger that may otherwise not be addressed. Now that our batteries are recharged, we can’t wait to come back to Orlando and implement some of the new ideas we’re learning about.

Holiday season’s one of the busiest times at Second Harvest and we’re ready to hit the ground running. If you’re interested in learning about any of our programs please feel free to contact me or anyone on my team.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs
bkoch@foodbankcentralflorida.org

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager  

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Feeding the Community One Day at a Time by Andy Kimpel

I work for a pallet company based in Orlando called CHEP. Why is that important you ask? Well, it’s where My Story really begins. I got involved with food banking a few years ago when I was asked to coordinate our company’s interaction with the national food bank organization called Feeding America.

At CHEP, our pallets help transport millions of pounds of food products every day and the link to food banking was, and is, a very logical one. However, I had no idea what food banking was or how it worked. I had even less knowledge about who was getting food assistance or how prevalent hunger was in my own community.

Literally hundreds of volunteer hours later, I now have a much deeper understanding of food banking and how necessary it is, especially in times like these. I have gone from relatively zero engagement to almost daily activity locally with Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and nationally with the Feeding America team in Chicago.

I’ve found that the more I help, the more I want to help. SHFB of Central Florida is a member of the Feeding America network that includes 200 other food banks around the country. This insight at multiple levels is rare for someone outside of food banking operations and a better knowledge of the entire food bank supply chain gives me the ability to help even more effectively.

The local work I am doing has a direct impact on our community’s future. I have recruited friends and family into this effort and we know we are changing lives every day. Food helps people perform better in school and work, create new opportunities and provide hope in tough times. Food is a basic requirement for our survival and I believe we all need to work to ensure that everyone gets their fair share. It’s not about being righteous or moral or political or even having a higher purpose. Sometimes it is simply about helping someone to survive until tomorrow. That’s as basic as it gets. Helping people right here in Orlando is a big plus for my family and I. For us, this cannot be more of a win-win situation. By helping locally, I am actually improving my family’s quality of life by improving conditions in our schools and supporting our local economy.

At the national level, I am able to help coordinate truckload shipments of food into various food banks. I help food manufacturers and distributors understand how easy it is to donate and how we can all work to end hunger across the U.S. I also help numerous food banks across the country with the flow of goods and provide suggestions on how they can work most efficiently with food donors and with CHEP.

Most people reading this will never have to worry about where their next meal will come from. But thousands of people in our area will. And do. The current economy has boosted local food assistance needs up by 400 percent in some areas and I feel compelled to help. I’m not a banker, but maybe food assistance helped someone get their bills paid this month. I’m not a teacher, but maybe I helped someone pass the FCAT last spring. I’m not a doctor, but maybe I helped save a life today. All those maybes drive my efforts at the food bank.

Volunteering with SHFB of Central Florida has opened my eyes and made me aware that hunger is right here in our backyard. It has shown me that 24 percent of the people getting food assistance are children who need it to grow and thrive and keep our community moving forward. I have been given the opportunity to help solve the hunger problem and it is a really good feeling. That’s why I keep going back for seconds.

Article by Andy Kimpel
Posted by InsightMagazine

#16 Way to Fight Hunger: Macy’s Come Together Campaign

Dinner’s ready and you’re invited! On September 15th (today), Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida will help our local Macy’s stores host a celebration as part of the national kick off event . We will join more than 650 participating Macy’s stores in a simultaneous “first course” meal. Everyone will get their first taste of the Come Together campaign as Macy’s hosts The World’s Largest Dinner Party. There will be a selection of appetizers and in some stores a live dj.

Join a Second Harvest Food Bank representative at any of the following 8 Macy’s locations in Central Florida at 6 p.m. today. We look forward to celebrating the campaign launch with you. Locations: Altamonte Mall, The Florida Mall, Melbourne Square Mall, Orlando Fashion Square, The Mall at Millenia, Oviedo Marketplace, Seminole Towne Center and Volusia Mall. You won’t want to miss it!  Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida will directly benefit from the Macy’s Come Together campaign.

If you can’t make the kick-off event, below are the three ways that you can participate.

HOST a Dinner to Raise Money:
Macy’s has dedicated a whole Web site to equipt you with everything you need to host the most memorable dinner party ever. Macy’s Culinary Council, made up of 15 world-renowned chefs including Emeril Lagasse, Tyler Florence, Todd English, Wolfgang Puck, as well as entertaining authority Martha Stewart, will serve as the experts of this campaign, offering up dinner party themes, recipe ideas, product suggestions and even their suggested playlists, to help America host delectable and entertaining dinners. Invite your closest friends and help Macy’s provide 10 million meals nationwide. The website lets you register your dinner party. Its also will help you create invitations that you can send to your friends. After your dinner party is over, you can go straight to the site and donate the money that you collected.

Here is a behind the scenes look at the commercial currently airing with some famous faces:

GIVE a $1 Donation at any Macy’s: Macy’s will match your donation dollar for dollar until the goal of 10 million meals is reached. Thank you Macy’s!

SHOP for a Cause on October 17: On October 17, Macy’s will give back to the Central Florida area through funds raised during their in-store and on-line Shop for a Cause event.  For $5, participants will experience a unique shopping day at their local Macy’s store, including great discounts, special events, and an opportunity to win $500. $5 tickets are available at either your local Macy’s store or at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.  Funds raised through Shop for a Cause directly benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

One last thing, Macy’s is also giving you the chance to enter its Come Together Sweepstakes. Win one of four pretty cool prizes on the Come Together Web site.   Prizes: 4-night Disney Cruise Line Bahamian Vacation, a 5-night stay at any small luxry Hotels of the World location, a HP TouchSmart PC and my personal favorite: Dinner for 4 at one of our celebrity chef’s restaurants. Good Luck!

Come Together and Help Fight Hunger!

Thank you to Macy’s for inviting Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to the table!

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager

P.S. I will be posting another blog later this week on more Hunger Action Month events. Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out our 30 Ways in 30 Days calendar.

The demand for food has grown an estimated 30% nationally. More than half (55%) of food banks reported that they or the agencies who help distribute the food they provide have had to turn people away in the last year. These national numbers mirror those collected in Central Florida by our local food pantries and soup kitchens.

In my position with the food bank I get to see these statistics embodied on a daily basis. I can attest that 98% of our agencies are seeing first-time clients and that 56% of our agencies are seeing large increases in children needing hunger relief. Ultimately, I also witness the sobering fact that 78% of partner agencies on the national level have had to reduce the amount of food provided or the frequency of food distributions in their community.

Absolutely every one of the volunteers and staff at our 539 partner feeding programs has the passion to fight hunger. Lately the need has been relentless and our partners haven be working, stretching and digging deep to provide for their community. It is an honor to partner with nonprofits and faith-based operations that give so much and ask for nothing in return.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida was able to provide over 21 million lbs of food to local pantries and kitchens last year and as is evident in the survey results, we need to provide more. Hunger has a solution, and we would like you to be a part of it. Please contact me to learn more about ways you can help fight hunger in Central Florida.

Brady Koch
Director of Agency Relations & Programs
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
407.295.1066 ext. 30
bkoch@foodbankcentralflorida.org