February 21, 2011

Hunger and the Daytona 500?

Author: Dave Krepcho

I am no longer a rookie after attending my first-ever Daytona 500. It is an incredible experience – the smell of rubber burning and BBQ pork sandwiches; somehow it all works. People from every walk of life are in the stands that stretch at least a half-mile long and hold 100,000 fans.

And imagine, Lap 3 was a “Lap of Silence” in remembrance of Dale Earnhardt’s crash 10 years ago … 100,000 people standing with three fingers held up with nothing but the roar of engines in the background — incredible dedication among these fans.

So where does hunger come into this picture? Who would’ve thought that Jeff Gordon would be driving a car that is covered with the statement: “Drive To End Hunger”? And that AARP would be the sponsor?! Yes, AARP is making a major commitment to hunger among older Americans.

Their three-year sponsorship will help spread awareness of the hunger problem and also raise money to help programs serving seniors. Feeding America members will support a series of races across the country. On top of it all, Second Harvest will receive a $10,000 donation and all the food left over after the race, that ‘s what I call a special checkered flag!

Dave Krepcho
President/CEO

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Working with Feeding America and Winn-Dixie, Drive to End Hunger presented a $10,000 check to Second Harvest to help feed hungry seniors in Central Florida. Additional donations were collected at the “Winn-Dixie Winner’s Circle,” a food drive at Central Florida Winn-Dixie stores. Below are photos from the event:

December 8, 2010

You cared, people were helped. Thank you.

Author: Dave Krepcho

Your support of Second Harvest Food Bank has made an impact in lives of thousands of Central Florida seniors, children, and families this past year.

Here’s a look at our accomplishments:

- Second Harvest distributed 24,764,248 pounds of food to more than 500 partner feeding programs in our 6 county-wide service area.

- Our Kids Cafe program served, prepared or catered meals to 164,155 children at 13 kids cafe’s in 3 counties.

- During the summer, we served 43,188 meals for school age children at 17 sites in Orange County through our Summer Feeding program. Through a grant from ConAgra we were also able to provide the kids with 15,773 take-home, shelf-stable food packs for the weekends.

- Our Hi-Five Kids packs program distributed 31,245 shelf-stable food packs to needy children at 18 elementary schools. These packs are designed to help bridge the nutritional gap that exists during weekends, when children lack access to school cafeterias.

- An amazing 1,227,100 pounds of non-perishable grocery products were collected in fiscal 2009/2010 through our Community Food Drives.

- Our Benefits Connection program secured over $14 million in food stamp benefits for Central Floridians. In addition to food stamp benefits, our specialists also signed clients up for Medicaid and Cash Assistance, and provided referrals to a network of collaborating agencies.

- Second Harvest Food Bank set up an online advocacy center and urged congressional leaders to fully fund and pass Child Nutrition Reauthorization. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill was passed last week in Congress!

Whether you volunteered, gave a special gift, contacted your elected officials, or simply were part of our online community, YOU helped thousands of Central Floridians this year. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Dave Krepcho
President & CEO

November 19, 2010

Victory Blog

Author: Brady Koch

I’m pleased to announce that our trio Childhood Hunger programs received a Victory Against Hunger Award from the Congressional Hunger Center, Victory Wholesale Group and Feeding America.

We reached a record number of children through our Kids Cafe, Hi-Five, and Summer Food programs in the last year and it is always a pleasure to be recognized for our work.

A breakdown of the 3 programs:

Kids Cafes
           At 13 After School sites in 3 counties, 164,155 prepared or catered meals were served in fiscal 2009/2010. This reflects a 12% increase over the previous year. An average of 910 children were served daily.

Summer Food Program
           During 51 operational days while children in needy areas lacked access to school lunch programs, 43,188 meals were served at 17 sites in Orange County this past summer, reflecting an increase of 9% over last year. Through a grant from ConAgra we were also able to provide the children with , 15,773 take-home, shelf-stable food packs for the weekends.

Hi-Five Kids Pack Program
          31,245 shelf-stable food packs were provided to needy children at 18 elementary schools last year. These packs are designed to help bridge the nutritional gap that exists during weekends, when children lack access to school cafeterias.

The Congressional Hunger Center (CHC) is a bipartisan anti-hunger leadership training organization located in Washington, DC. In addition to the fellowships they offer, the CHC facilitates the national discussion of finding ways to end hunger in America.

It’s nice to be able to take a break from our workday and be honored, but there’s always more work to get back to. We continue to see more and more children enrolled in our programs and there’s much more to do. Can you help?

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

November 18, 2010

Call Congress to Support Child Nutrition Bill

Author: Dave Krepcho

Dear Friend of the Food Bank:
We need your help in a very important way. The Food Bank typically does not ask for folks to call Congress, however, this is a time-sensitive, critical issue for alleviating childhood hunger and improving nutrition.

The child nutrition bill before Congress is in danger of not passing.  We are engaged along with other Food Banks across the country and Feeding America in an effort to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S.3307).  Right now, there is one thing that you can do to help:

Call Congress  -   Just dial 877-698-8228 to be directly connected to your Representative’s office and deliver this message:
“Congress must pass the child nutrition bill this year. Do not go home without passing the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (S.3307).”

Calling your Representative will help us keep up the pressure on Congress to pass the child nutrition bill.  And remember, one call is not enough—ask your staff, volunteers, partners and supporters to make a call.

There is a sense of urgency for this call because time is running out for Congress before the 111th Congress ends this calendar year. Only a couple of weeks remain. If you know members of Congress and have access to them while they are home for Thanksgiving, please make the request for passage of S. 3307.

If you are interested in more detail on this bill and some background, we’ve provided the following:

This bill is the bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307). We are disappointed that this was not reauthorized by September 30. It is imperative that the reauthorization be completed this year, and we urge Congress and the Administration to act.

We are also concerned by the recent divisiveness surrounding this reauthorization and its potential to put passage of the child nutrition bill at risk. This reauthorization is not a choice between addressing child hunger or childhood obesity. It is a chance to significantly improve nutrition for all children. Far too many children – especially low-income children – lack the nutrition they need to be healthy and successful in school and on the playground. By improving opportunities for healthy meals in and out of school, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act would take a step forward in addressing both child hunger and obesity: S. 3307 would help reduce hunger and increase children’s access to healthy meals by expanding the supper program from 14 to all 50 states, better connecting eligible children with free school meals, extending the WIC certification period for children to one year, and improving opportunities for mothers to fully breastfeed their infants. The bill would fund demonstration projects to test innovative strategies for ending child hunger – including alternate models of service – and support research into the causes and consequences of childhood hunger. The bill also authorizes grants to retain summer food program sponsors, improve and expand breakfast programs, and encourage states to develop comprehensive strategies to end child hunger.

S. 3307 would make progress against childhood obesity and improve the nutritional quality of meals by strengthening nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools, providing schools with increased resources and training to improve meal quality, and supporting farm-to-school programs and school gardens. The bill would also establish nutrition requirements and provide technical assistance to help child care providers improve the health of young children.

Even with the important progress made by S. 3307, more must be done to reach the goals of ending child hunger by 2015 and solving childhood obesity in a generation. We appreciate the new commitment that Agriculture Secretary Vilsack made to use his administrative authority to further improve access to the school lunch and breakfast programs.

As Congress and the Administration continue working toward these goals, first on the list must be improving access to child nutrition programs and protecting SNAP families:

Of the more than 19 million low-income children participating in free or reduced-price lunch, less than half eat school breakfast and only 16 percent access a summer food program. Most high-poverty school districts cannot meet the demand for local weekend feeding programs. S. 3307 would not fully address gaps during weekends, summers, and breakfasts, and more is needed to ensure vulnerable children have access to healthy meals. Congress and the Administration should identify alternative vehicles to establish the weekend feeding pilot and expand the year-round simplification of summer and afterschool programs included in H.R. 5504, and should fully fund the summer, breakfast, and child hunger grants authorized in S. 3307.

Locally, Central Florida has a higher rate of childhood food insecurity than the national average; approximately 1 in 4 children are in this category. The numbers are not declining, they are increasing. Last year, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida provided enough food for 17 million meals — of that total; approximately 4 million meals were consumed by kids.

We will continue to source as much food as possible and get it to the people most in need with local resources, creativity, innovation and efficiency. However, Congress has a critical role to play to pass this legislation…we cannot do it alone. If it is not passed, billions of dollars can be lost.

Thank you for your support over the years and thank you for taking the time to read this far. We are committed to ending hunger and improving nutrition for all children.

Thank you,
Dave Krepcho
President/CEO
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

407-295-1066, ext. 38   dkrepcho@foodbankcentralflorida.org

September 21, 2010

Agency Spotlight: Collins Cupboard

Author: Maria Diestro

This week we are spotlighting Collins Cupboard at the Lighthouse Christian Church in Deland, Florida, run by Robin and Gene Campbell. The pantry distributed food to 674 households and 2334 individual people last quarter.

Collins Cupboard sends volunteers every Monday to the Volusia Branch warehouse to help unload and put away the truckload of food that arrives from Second Harvest’s main facility in Orlando. We have never asked for this, but are grateful for the help.  

In addition to being a first class partner agency, Collins Cupboard falls into the super volunteer category. They volunteer for Scouting for Food, Wesh TV’s Share your Christmas and pretty much anytime we could use a hand … they are always ready to help us out.

 Here are some photos of Collins Cupboard in action:

 Below is a photo of them unloading a trailer full of food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A happy recipient leaving the pantry with bags of food.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 
Collins Cupboard crew serving a spaghetti meal. The proceeds went to their pantry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Harvest Food Bank distributes food to over 600 feeding partners in six counties. Collins Cupboard is 1 of 90 agencies that we currently partner with in Volusia County. Their passion for fighting hunger and helping their neighbors is truly unmatched. We salute Robin and Gene and all their friends at Collins Cupboard, and all our partner agencies in Volusia County—keep up the incredible work!

 If you are a Volusia resident and would like to visit our facility, and a learn a little bit more about hunger in Central Florida, please sign up for a Food for Thought Tour at our Volusia branch.

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager