Conversations about ending hunger go national

Last Friday, as part of a national meeting for CEO's of local Feeding America food banks, I took part in a meeting to hear about some current work and research dubbed "Collaborating for Clients."  The research is trying to identify what collaborations food banks are already taking part in that are geared toward addressing the underlying issues that cause hunger, with a goal of bringing successful models to scale.

It was fun to hear people using terms that we at Foodshare have been using for several years:

• Changing the conversation about hunger
• We have to do more than give away food
• It's not about building bigger food banks, it's about helping our neighbors transform their lives
• We need to build collaborations
• This is not "mission creep" - it's the logical next step or evolution of our mission

All of these things are what local Hunger Action Teams are about - building local collaborations aimed at building self-sufficiency for low-income families and shortening the lines at emergency food programs!