United for Change Presents: United Against Poverty (by unitedforchangetv)

Confirmed Speakers:
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, Imam Zaid Shakir, Imam Suhaib Webb, Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick, Chris Hedges, Imam Mohamed Magid, Sr. Yasmin Mogahed, Shaykh Abdullah Adhami, Dr. Fatimah Jackson, Sr. Asma Hanif and Shaykh Imadudeen Abu Hijleh

Girl sells lemonade for Hamilton food bank

How To Find Free Summer Meals For Kids This Summer

ATLANTA, June 28, 2012 — Text “FoodGA” to 877-877 or call 2-1-1

ATLANTA, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Parents looking for free summer lunch for their children now have an easy way to find locations near them.   Text the word “FoodGA” to 877-877 and enter your address when prompted.  The system will send information on the three closest locations to you.   Or you can call 2-1-1, United Way’s helpline for site locations.

Bremer Bank fundraises to bring backpack program to MAES and St. Mary’s next year

For the seventh consecutive year, Bremer Bank is “Taking Action to End Hunger” during the month of June by raising funds for local Feeding America food banks.

MORRIS - For the seventh consecutive year, Bremer Bank is “Taking Action to End Hunger” during the month of June by raising funds for local Feeding America food banks.

Morris’ Bremer branch is taking the fundraiser a step further, working to support a new program that will help provide food to Morris area students outside of the school day.

Bremer Bank will be working with the Stevens County Food Shelf and local volunteers to implement North Country Food Bank’s Backpack Program at Morris Area Elementary School and St. Mary’s for the 2012-2013 school year.

Each week, students from Morris Area FFA and other volunteers will fill each backpack with food for each student in kindergarten through sixth grade who qualifies for free and reduced school lunch.

“The BackPack Program puts food directly into the hands of children in need,” said Susie Novak, executive director of North Country Food Bank. “It is our goal to raise enough funds to provide more than 200 children in Morris with a backpack filled with food each weekend during the school year. With the support of the community, we can make sure no child has to wonder where their next meal is coming from over the weekend or during school holiday breaks.”

Click here to read more. 

hungrytohelp:

The students in Mrs. Greer’s class at Alpine Elementary are putting the fun into FUNdraising with their “Coins for Kids” service learning project benefiting the No Kid Hungry campaign.

Each class competed against each other to see who could donate the most coins, and together, the 401 inspired students raised $2,842.49!

There are 16 million children in the United States who are facing hunger. How many of those kids live in your community? How many of those kids live right next door?

A study released earlier this month by Feeding America, called Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2012, gives people the unique opportunity to see how many children face hunger in their community.

The findings are troubling. Unfortunately, there is not a single community in the United States that is free of child hunger. Hunger continues to exist in every county and every congressional district in the nation—even the wealthiest.

That means in places like Santa Barbara County, Calif., a place that is synonymous with upscale vineyards and posh resorts, there are children who do not get enough to eat. In fact, in spite of the luxury associated with that area, nearly one in four children in Santa Barbara County are food insecure.

And in some places — places that you may never have heard of — it’s even worse. Places where the unemployment hasn’t rebounded and tens of thousands of people are out of work. Places like Zavala County, Texas, where almost 50 percent of the children are facing hunger. That means almost half of that county’s children aren’t getting enough to eat.

It’s unthinkable that somewhere in this great country, in these modern times, there is a place where almost half of the kids go hungry.

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drunkhippie:

Guess What Percentage Of American Children Are Living In Poverty. Seriously, Guess.

Numbers like this make you wonder how much longer the United States is even going to count as a “developed country.”

A. Jaye Johnson has seen many sack lunches and milk cartons provided in his time as unit director at the Memorial Park Boys and Girls Club in Oklahoma City.

The free lunches are part of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Summer Feeding Program, which Johnson said has been a blessing since it began 10 years ago.

“When parents drop off their kids they always say ‘Make sure you eat,’” Johnson said. “I am proud to say the food bank has helped us do that.”

Last summer, the food bank served 114,017 meals at 49 locations. This year programs are set up at 59 locations in Oklahoma City that serve lunch, with some sites also serving breakfast.

Ryan Abernathy, program director for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, said the meals are important because 90 percent of students in Oklahoma City Public Schools are on free or reduced-price lunch plans during the school year and need meals during summer.

“Lots of kids are dependent on these meals when school lets out, so we try to provide them with a nutritious meal each day,” Abernathy said.

The meals are funded by the Summer Food Service Program, a nationwide program that provides food for children when they are not in school.

Click here for original article. 

“No more pencils, no more books” is part of the familiar school’s-out-for-summer chant. But when classrooms close for the summer, so do school cafeterias and their free and reduced lunch and breakfast programs. For thousands of area children, that means a harsh summer lesson about hunger and improper nutrition.

A study by Feeding America, a hunger relief charity, shows there are more than 400,000 children in Cook and the collar counties who spend at least some time hungry or not receiving proper nutrition. One in five children in the 13 northern Illinois counties face hunger on a regular basis. Northern Illinois Food Bank officials say that problem becomes more acute in the summer months when school food is not a guaranteed part of a child’s day.

Click here to read more. 

Click here to read more. 

socialismartnature:

A UNICEF study of 35 developed countries found the United States had the second-highest rate of child poverty after Romania. The study —titled Report Card 10 —found the child poverty rate in Romania was 26.5 percent.

The U.S. rate was 23.1 percent, followed by Latvia and Bulgaria at 18.8 percent, Spain at 17.1 percent and Greece at 16 percent.

benignmalevolence:

“For the past year the GOP has toiled diligently to increase poverty with Draconian spending cuts targeting the poor, and their efforts to cut funding to the SNAP (food stamp), Medicaid, and children’s programs is only matched by their assault on women and imposition of bible edicts. However, if they prevail in the general election, Paul Ryan, John Boehner, and Willard Romney will reach their coveted goal of having the highest child poverty rate in the world. Presently, America is number two.

In a new report from the Office of Research at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), of 35 wealthy countries studied, only two have more than 20% of its children living in poverty. Republicans will be disappointed that at23.1%, America came in second to Romania’s 25%, but no-one can blame them for not aspiring to reach number one. The good news for Republicans is even though America is number two, it has more poverty-stricken children that Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, and 28 of the developed countries in the world.”

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Childhood hunger is a growing problem in the United States. Many children go to bed at night hungry, do not know where their next meal is coming from, and for some of those children the only meals they have are during school hours.  

                 More than 16 million children are at risk for childhood hunger, which is more than one in five. Nearly 16 million American children   live in poverty; almost 19 million receive benefits from food stamps. Over 20 million get a free or reduced- price lunch during an average school day, while only 10.5 million get a free or reduced- price breakfast, and six out of seven children who qualify for a free or reduced- price school lunch do not have access to summer meals.

  Share Our Strength is a national non- profit organization that is committed to ending childhood hunger, their first priority is to make sure every child in America gets the nutritious food he or she needs to learn, grow and thrive. Their movement No Kid Hungry is a national movement that was started 25 years ago and has been confronting hunger problems head-on since then. Share Our Strength also works to help feed hungry kids through fundraising events such as Taste of the Nation, Great American Bake Sales, and Dine Out. Additionally, a portion of funds raised through Taste of the Nation events support communities in Haiti, Mexico, El Salvador, and Ethiopia.

No Kid Hungry believes America can end childhood hunger by 2015. So far, over 150,000 people have taken the pledge to end it.  To get involved you can also take the pledge, give a donation, or just spread the word.   Remember the hungry children of America need all the help they can get.

Click here for the original article.