Hi all!

Can you believe that Hunger Action Month starts TOMORROW?? Food Banks all around the country are gearing up for an exciting September filled with many different events and programs. Of course Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is no exception.

Our call to action this year is “30 Ways in 30 Days”. We are giving everyone in the community 30 different ways they can help fight hunger in Central Florida.

Why is Hunger Action Month important?
Approximately 1 in 5 of our population—732,000 people—needed food assistance in Central Florida last year. This is a 152% increase from 2006. The only way we can close the gap on hunger is with the community’s help. The need is tremendous in Central Florida…but so is the impact you can have.

So how can I help?

OK, here’s the deal…be sure to check out our Hunger Action Month Microsite. On this site, you will find everything you need to know about the activities happening throughout September. You will also find a downloadable copy of our “30 Ways in 30 Days” Calendar. Print it out and check out the action each day!
 
Here are some highlights…

• Hunger Action Month Kick-off: September 2nd at CRAVE Restaurant from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. We will be sharing our 30 ways calendar and explaining what everyone can do to take action this September.

• TAKE THE PLEDGE! The food bank that receives the most amount of pledges will receive a truckload of food from Feeding America. Take the pledge here and don’t forget to tell your friends!

• JOIN THE HUDDLE! Kraft Foods is sponsoring the “Huddle to Fight Hunger”. Along with many other initiatives, they are giving each food bank 1 meal for everyone who joins the huddle and gives a zip code in their service area. So be sure to join the huddle and give a Central Florida zip code!

• PORTRAITS OF HUNGER SHOWCASE: The winner of our Portraits of Hunger Photography contest will be announced along with a display of the photo submissions that we received for the contest. Bring a bag or box of food donations (non-perishable) and receive one ticket for a free bottle of Peroni. One free Peroni per person. We hope to see you at Enzian’s Eden Bar on Thursday, September 30! Program starts at 7:30 p.m.

I hope everyone is excited for Hunger Action Month! We would love it if you could send our Hunger Action Month e-card to your friends to let them know all about what they can do to help this September.

My personal “way” I am helping out this month is by BOGOing. Whenever I go food shopping, I will buy one for me, and get one for a family in need. I can’t wait to see what your “way” is.
 
Happy Hunger Action Month!

Sasha Hausman
Development Manager

Our Portraits of Hunger Showcase took place on Wednesday, September 30 at Enzian’s Eden Bar.

It can be a bit unnerving not knowing who will actually show up to an event. Fortunately for us, the night was a huge success! Every seat at Eden Bar was taken. I got a chance to meet several of the photographers that submitted photos to our contest. I also got a chance to talk to some of the people that brought food donations. We are very thankful for the community support that we received that night.   

Note: We could not have pulled this event off without the help of Enzians’ staff. It seems so long ago when we actually talked about the event. They were truly a pleasure to work with.

Drumroll …

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

Top 3 photos were: Courage by G.K. Sharman, Loneliness by Bernard Juskie and Snack Time Smiles submitted by Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, photographer Sharon Smith.

I’d like to thank our three judges for taking the time to vote for the winning photo and for participating this year. Our Contest Judges were Sara Van Arsdel, Executive Director of Orange County History Center; Josh Garrick, Media Rep & Curator for Millenia Fine Art and Dave Krepcho, President of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

If you didn’t get a chance to attend Portraits of Hunger, below is a slideshow of all the photos that were submitted to the contest. 

If you did attend, the slideshow below has photos taken from that night. Enjoy!

Thank you again for participating in Portraits of Hunger.  We look forward to bringing this event back next year.

If you have any suggestions on ways we can make this contest better or ways that we can improve on the showcase please leave us a comment below.

Maria Diestro
Online Services and Communications Manager