USDA Awards $200 Million for SNAP Job Training

USDA will give projects in 10 states a total of $200 million over 3 years to help SNAP participants find jobs and work toward self-sufficiency. The grants fund pilot projects focusing on target populations identified by the 2014 Farm Bill, including individuals with low skills, able-bodied adults without dependents, and SNAP recipients working in very low-wage or part-time jobs. The selected pilots represent a wide array of balanced approaches—including skills training, work-based learning, support services such as transportation and child care, and other job-driven strategies—and reflect the wide geographic diversity of the SNAP population.

Vermont is the pilot site closest to Connecticut. Its' Department of Children and Families received $9 million to provide a range of education and training options to high-need populations, including homeless adults, individuals connected to the correctional systems, and individuals with substance addiction. Services will include adult basic education and GED services, job readiness training, occupational training, and work-based learning such as apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

Learn more...

A Visit with Stop & Shop New England

Dan Cramer - District Director; Paula Siebers - Foodshare's Food Sourcing Manager;

Judi Palmer -Director of Marketing & External Communication, Stop & Shop New England Division; and

Ken Burroughs - District Director

We had the pleasure of meeting with folks from Stop & Shop New England last week to celebrate all that they do to support Foodshare. From providing us with donations of food, to funding, to volunteers-- it’s clear that Stop & Shop is a company that goes above and beyond to make sure that our neighbors who are struggling with hunger have access to enough food.

Stop & Shop’s Our Family Foundation is the lead funder of Foodshare’s work to fight childhood hunger at the local level through our Hunger Action Team program. And, although Stop & Shop donated an astounding 1.46 million meals in foods and funds to Foodshare last year, they continue to ask us “what more can we do to help Foodshare?” We are inspired by their enthusiastic staff and great leadership who share a genuine commitment to the Foodshare mission.

Thank you to all of our friends at Stop & Shop New England for your support and dedication-- it’s partners like you that make us confident that we can and will solve hunger in our community!

Thanks to our 2015 Walk Sponsors!

Join us on Sunday, May 3 - Register online @ www.FoodshareWalk.org

PRESENTING SPONSOR	PLATINUM SPONSOR
	The Chase Family Foundations Issuers of The Chase Challenge
	DIAMOND SPONSOR
GOLD SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS	ROUTE SPONSORS
AMP Radio McCarter & English, LLP ShopRite Windsor Federal Savings	C&S Wholesale McPhee Electric NBC Connecticut The Phoenix Companies Price Chopper
A Special Thank You To...
American Medical Response CT Portables Fine Print of New England

Providing Hope for Our Hungry Neighbors

Canton ShopRite

Each September all Shop Rite locations in six states band together in a friendly competition to raise money and “Provide Hope to the Hungry.” This competition is sponsored by ShopRite Partners in Caring and General Mills, and over $1 million was raised last Fall to support local food banks. The winning stores get to select two staff members to be featured on a special edition Cheerios box.

Bristol ShopRite

 

We had two winning stores in our area- the Bristol store, owned by the Tornaquindici Family; and the Canton store, owned by the Joseph Family. Last Friday a number of us from Foodshare were thrilled to be able to attend the celebrations at each of these locations. It was clear to me that the entire staff at these stores, including the winners- Nicole Krell, Krystal Laprise, Sarah Cheney and Dean Dingman; understand how they can make a difference in their community.

Thank you to all our ShopRite Partners!

Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Help Fight Child Hunger

We are happy to share that Foodshare has received a $20,000 grant from The Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation (DDBRCF)! This funding will help Foodshare provide over 80,000 meals worth of food to our partner programs that serve hungry children throughout the Greater Hartford area. Thank you to DDBRCF for your generous support!

Ugly Fruits and Vegetables

Loblaws, Canada’s largest food retailer, launched a campaign last week to sell misshapen, “ugly” produce at a discounted rate in an effort to curb the country’s food waste problem (annually, Canadians waste some 40% of their food).

The campaign offers aesthetically displeasing apples and potatoes at a discount of up to 30 cents in select stores in Ontario and Quebec. The produce being sold in new campaign would have been used for juices or soups, or might not have been harvested at all, due to their appearance. Though the campaign is beginning with apples and potatoes, company officials hope that the program will grow to include other ugly fruits and vegetables in the future. The move offers savings to both the consumer, who can access healthy produce at lower costs, and the Canadian government, which loses some $31 billion dollars annually on food waste. Read more...

Last year France introduced a similar program, which proved to be a hit:

Intermarche - 'Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables' from Goodvertising on Vimeo.

Harnessing the Power of Partnerships

We had a wonderful visit from Amanda Aronson last week, and through that discussion she came away with this beautifully written piece about our work to Solve Hunger:

Foodshare: Harnessing The Power of Partnerships
March 25, 2015 ~ Aronson Consulting, LLC

Many of us know Foodshare for their Turkey and Thirty campaign or their Walk Against Hunger, but have you ever stopped to realize just how many partnerships they maintain throughout our community? I know I hadn’t–until the day I asked the dish washer at the House of Bread about the daily rhythm of their soup kitchen. His response was peppered with recognizable names of organizations, companies and houses of worship, all contributing in some way to the mission of House of Bread. And from his perspective, a vital component of their work begins at Foodshare. Read More...

Many thanks to Amanda for supporting our work, and for sharing it with the Greater Hartford community!

School Meal Standards Threatened

The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act is set to expire in September, and political opponents are already lining up to weaken new, healthier standards that affect all meals served under the federal child nutrition programs. Sen. John Hoeven announced legislation this week to roll back the whole grain and sodium standards. The School Nutrition Association, which advocates for school food service groups, has been lobbying Congress to roll back the new standards. Some schools have complained about the added food cost and have pointed to students tossing uneaten food as indicators students don’t like the taste of the foods that qualify under the law. But a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at UConn suggests otherwise. It finds students choose fruit offered by the cafeteria 66% of the time, up from 54% in 2012 when the new rules went into affect. And they throw away less food than before the guidelines changed, consuming 84% of their entrees compared with 71% before. Read more...

Republicans want to turn SNAP over to States

The House and Senate Republicans unveiled their budget plans this week. Both address the wishes of fiscal conservatives to: slash federal spending by trillions to balance the budget within a decade, repeal Obamacare, reform the Tax Code and overhaul popular entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid — all while boosting Pentagon funding.

Both plans call for saving more than $1 trillion by cutting entitlement programs like SNAP. House Republicans intend to turn SNAP into a block grant called a “State Flexibility Fund” and turn it over to state control starting in 2021. Block grants give states the “flexibility” to increase eligibility requirements, reduce the number of recipients, and free up those federal dollars for other uses. They also allow the federal government to give states a fixed amount and hope they will cover the increased cost when demand rises.

The Congressional Budget Office this week issued a report that said that if the SNAP program were converted into a block grant, with a 15% cut in funding, “average benefits would almost surely decline significantly unless state or private funding made up some or all of the difference.”

Sources: Politico,Budget Plan; Campaign for America’s Future, GOP Budget; Think Progress, SNAP Attack

Manchester...

State Representative Mark Tweedie (in the red hat) with volunteers in Manchester

The line of people needing food began forming 30 minutes before Foodshare’s Mobile truck arrived on a freezing Tuesday morning in March. State Representative Mark Tweedie visited the MACC distribution site (across from Saint Bridget Church) in Manchester to learn more about Foodshare and our efforts to distribute more food in Tolland County.

Representative Tweedie was elected in November, serving the 13th district which includes part of Manchester and part of Glastonbury. Prior to serving in the state legislature he owned a small business, Tweedie Dental Arts, LLC which created custom dental prosthetics such as crowns and bridges. In his current role, Representative Tweedie serves on the Appropriations, Environment and Veteran’s Affairs committees.

Foodshare looks forward to working with Representative Tweedie to fight hunger in the 13th District!

Many Seniors are Malnourished

Malnutrition is a growing problem among older Americans. Of the millions of older adults admitted to the hospital every year, at least one in three is malnourished upon admission. And about half of older adults in rehabilitation settings are malnourished, which may place them at higher risk for malnutrition. Further, patients who enter the hospital malnourished have heightened risks of poorer health outcomes, including longer hospital stays, higher healthcare costs, greater complication and readmission rates, and higher mortality rates. A variety of factors contribute to this situation, according to a Gerontological Society of America paper: taste disturbances, difficulty accessing or preparing food because of functional limitations or cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, bereavement, and poverty all may cause older individuals to eat less. Read More...

Why SNAP isn't falling as fast as unemployment

Some critics argue that SNAP enrollment’s failure to fall in tandem with the sharp drop in the unemployment rate over the past few years indicates that most of the rise in SNAP’s enrollment after 2007 was not related to the economy. The critical reality, however, is that SNAP enrollment remains high because the job market continues to exhibit scars from the Great Recession that the unemployment rate does not fully reflect.

Despite increased employment numbers, the share of the population with a job remains abnormally low, the number of people working fewer hours than they would like remains abnormally high as does long-term unemployment, and wage growth continues to be anemic. In addition, the number of unemployed workers who aren’t receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits — the group most likely to qualify for SNAP because they have neither sufficient wages nor UI benefits — is higher now than at the bottom of the recession. Read more...

Learn how Foodshare is working to improve participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and how you can be a part of that work!

The Farmer's Cow

A note from Paula Siebers, our Food Sourcing Manager:

"Last week I got a chance to visit Graywall farms in Lebanon, one of the six family farms of The Farmer’s Cow. I ended up being there on the first day of Spring- complete with 5" of snow expected. It is an amazing property with rolling hills, 18th Century homes and a 600 head dairy farm. The Farmer's Cow began distributing their dairy products in a bay near ours at the Regional Market in 2013. This has been great for us as we received over 77,000 pounds of milk and other dairy products in 2014! A huge thank you to Managing Director Robin Chesmer, Sales Rep Kathy Smith, and the rest of the staff at Farmer's Cow for providing us with nutritious food! 

Who wants to visit with me on a SUMMER or FALL day?"

Right on, Target!

The wonderful staff and management at Target South Windsor gathered to receive accolades and a giant thank you sign for all they do to support Foodshare and their community in the fight to solve hunger.

This group makes it a priority to donate food and non-food items that would otherwise be thrown into dumpsters. Because of their commitment, this store donated an impressive 51,407 meals worth of food in 2014. In addition to the generous food donations, Target also volunteers for Foodshare by sending groups to sort food items at our Bloomfield facility and at the Regional Market, and last year sent a very large group to volunteer at the Foodshare Walk Against Hunger. Looking forward to another year of this fantastic partnership with Target!

Learn how you can give your time or money to help hungry people in your community, by joining the Movement to Solve Hunger!

Jobless Vets may lose SNAP next year

An estimated 60,000 veterans may lose SNAP benefits over the course of 2016 as a 3-month limit on benefits for unemployed, non-disabled adults without children returns in many areas. One provision of the 1996 welfare law limits childless adults to 3 months of SNAP benefits in any 36-month period unless they are working half time or participating in a training program. The law doesn’t require states to help the affected people find jobs or provide job training—very few do. Many states temporarily waived the 3-month limit during the recession. But as the economy recovers and unemployment falls, the waivers will end and more people will face the limit. Low-income veterans are especially vulnerable to the time limit. Unemployment for veterans serving since September 2001 remains high averaging 9% in 2013 (the most recent year available).

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 3/10/15, Jobless Vets

A donation of thanks!

The local food industry here in the Greater Hartford area provided nearly 70% of the 12 million meals we distributed last year. Our many food donors recognize that every successful business has some product that won’t be sold. Rather than letting this food go to waste, they donate it to us.

We are always looking for meaningful ways to let our food donors know just how much we appreciate the work they do. We were thrilled last year when Windsor Marketing Group offered to provide large format signs for our donors, and we received a lot of great feedback. Our food donors were very happy to hang the sign where their staff and customers could see the contribution they were making to our communities.

This year, Windsor Marketing Group has once again partnered with Foodshare by creating and producing these large format signs for 45 of our partnering grocery retailers and food distributors.

“Being active in the local community is critical to Windsor Marketing Group,” said company founder and CEO Kevin Armata. “Through our membership in the Connecticut Food Association we were introduced to the folks at Foodshare and are glad to support their efforts.”

A huge thanks to Windsor Marketing Group for their great partnership!

Windsor Marketing Group is an innovative in-store marketing group that creates, produces, and delivers shopper marketing programs that inspire and influence in-store buying patterns. The company was founded in 1976 and has grown to nearly 200 associates serving over 3,000 clients including some of the largest retailers in the U.S.

Price Chopper collects food and funds for Foodshare

Eric Coleman, Foodshare reclamation coordinator accepts the donation from Price Chopper’s 2014 Check Out Hunger campaign.

Foodshare received the proceeds from Price Chopper’s 2014 Check Out Hunger campaign, which included a donation of $3,878 and 3,611 pounds of food!

“We are so grateful to all of the Price Chopper stores in Greater Hartford for their overwhelming commitment to solving hunger,” said Christine O’Rourke, Foodshare interim president. “As a result of the efforts of their employees and the generosity of their customers the Check Out Hunger campaign will allow Foodshare to provide over 14,000 meals for our hungry neighbors! We are excited to build on this wonderful partnership in the years ahead.”

From mid-November to mid-December, Check Out Hunger gave shoppers the opportunity to add a small monetary donation to their bill (bringing the total to the next whole dollar amount) through the Round Up Your Change program and/or purchase a set-price Food Package, a $5, $10 or $15 selection of pantry essentials.

“Our annual Check Out Hunger campaign helps to raise funds, food and awareness that hunger is a year-round issue for so many in our communities. Traditionally, the start of the year is a tough time for food pantries that worked so hard to provide for those in need throughout the holiday season. We appreciate and acknowledge our teammates and customers who continue to generously answer the call to contribute and help their neighbors.” said Mona Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services.

Neighborhood Market West Hartford…they’re kind of a big deal

They make it look so easy. That’s because the staff at Walmart’s Neighborhood Market in West Hartford make food donations a regular part of every day. In fact, they are the only store donating food seven days each week. This happens because everyone in the store understands their part in the process and cares about donating food that cannot be sold but is still edible and nutritious. The result of their commitment to this process is 180,698 meals worth of food that went directly from their store to pantries and shelters right in their own community. They are perfect examples of doing a little extra every day to make a huge difference. Thank you Neighborhood Market West Hartford!

Congressman Re-launches Hunger Caucus

Rep. James McGovern, a Democrat from central Massachusetts, has resurrected the bipartisan House Hunger Caucus with Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS). The caucus is a forum for members to discuss, advance, and work on issues related to domestic and international hunger and food insecurity. The caucus has hosted briefings on topics ranging from introductions to the major domestic and international hunger programs to food deserts in rural and urban America to global agriculture and farmer-to-farmer initiatives to international school feeding and child nutrition programs. One of the caucus’s most important objectives is to bring together federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, academia, and business to discuss long-term strategies for ending hunger.

PriceRite Steps Up

For Foodshare’s Food Donations Coordinator, Gaye Sgamboti, visiting donors to thank them is one of the highlights of the job. It’s an opportunity to gather the store staff who are responsible for processing donations and tell them what we have accomplished together. This week she visited all four PriceRite stores in our service area to present them with certificates and giant thank you signs. All four locations: Wethersfield, Windsor, West Hartford and New Britain, donate food at least three times per week and raise money at the registers for Foodshare through their Check Out Hunger program. As a group, these stores donated 147,623 meals worth of food in 2014 to hungry people in their communities. Their dedication is impressive and much appreciated. PriceRite stores are wonderful partners in the fight to end hunger.

Government support reduces poverty

According to the federal government’s official poverty rate, nearly 1/3 of America’s children (11.2 million) lived in poverty in 2011-13. But that measure does not include the nation’s poverty-fighting programs like SNAP, tax credits, Social Security, and housing subsidies. When analysts include government supports, the poverty rate among children drops to 18%. The earned income and child care tax credits have the greatest effect, reducing the poverty rate by nearly 8 percentage points. SNAP reduces the poverty rate by another 2 percentage points and affects over 2 million kids. In Connecticut, these programs reduce the child poverty rate by nearly 50% (from 25 to 13%) and affect 94,000 kids.

Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2/27/15, Reducing Child Poverty

A Common Purpose

View more photos

Amazing things can happen when people come together with a common purpose.

This week we were able to bring together BJ's Wholesale Club, one of our wonderful food donors, who provided food donations generating over 95,000 meals last year, with some of our partner programs that were the recipients of a $21,000 grant from BJs.

It was great to hear how each of the recipients used their grant funds to purchase cold storage units, allowing them to distribute more perishable foods, like Pastor Al of Life Church in Granby:

"This is just a quick note to say thank you to Foodshare for the opportunity to connect with the leadership team of the various BJ's stores in our area yesterday. Given my past experience in corporate America, I'm quite sensitive to the amount of time and coordination it takes to bring that level of senior management in one room along with five partner agencies. What was most impressive to me was that BJ's was not only there in financial support but the genuine interest they had in us at the ground level in feeding the hungry was both refreshing and encouraging. Their questions, comments and observations helped to create an environment that our team from Hope 4 Life food pantry walked away feeling like we genuinely had a third partner joining with Foodshare and us to expand our ability to get more fresh produce on the table of hungry families in need.

Please express my gratitude to the entire Foodshare team and the BJ's team as well."

Through discussion we all came to a better understanding of what we are each doing to help solve hunger in the Greater Hartford area and how we can help each other, and because of that, I left work feeling like my community was just a bit smaller.

Many, many thanks to BJs Wholesale Club for making time to visit Foodshare, and for all you do for your community!

Getting to Goal: Doug Swims the English Channel

In honor of his 60th birthday, Doug “Clydesdale” Comstock is celebrating. Not with a relaxing vacation in the Caribbean. Not with a party and a big cake. Doug is celebrating with a solo swim across the English Channel! The 18-hour journey will take place sometime at the end of July, 2015 (due to the changing tides, Doug must be on standby for 7 days straight and be ready to head into the water with only 3 hours notice)!

Back in the 1980’s Doug worked on a fishing boat in Alaska. During the week he was fed well, but on weekends he was homeless and hungry. That experience left Doug wanting to give back and help those that are hungry, so he created this fundraiser to benefit Foodshare and East Granby's Friend to Friend Food Pantry.

Don’t forget, your donation of just $30 will allow Foodshare to feed someone for an entire month! 100% of the donations will be going to help hungry people in our community and are tax-deductible.

Doug is incredibly passionate about getting to goal his motto being “achieve anything at any age”! With your help, his $10,000 goal is definitely achievable!

More children eating fruit in school

Changes made to government-subsidized school meals by the Obama administration to get children to eat more fruits are working, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at UConn. The study found that between 2012, when the changes took effect, through 2014, the percentage of students choosing fruit on a cafeteria line increased to 66% from 54%. Perhaps more important, children threw away less food now than before. Students are now eating 84% of their entrees, not including fruit, up from 71% before the new guidelines were put in place, thus decreasing the amount of food waste. Many critics of the new guidelines had claimed that children were throwing food away because they were being forced to eat more nutritious, but less desirable, meals.

Source: New York Times, Fruit in School

Did you know that last year, over one-third of the food distributed by Foodshare was fresh produce? Thanks to food industry donors, the Mobile Foodshare program is able to get nutritious food directly into the neighborhoods where it is needed most!

UTFlight provides a unique gift for those in need!

UTFlight, the transportation department for United Technologies Corporation, based at Bradley Airport, has provided a huge bag (almost 10 pounds) of travel size toiletries. A busy travel schedule has given these pilots the unique opportunity to collect these toiletries for Foodshare. We will then in turn distribute them to our many program partners.

Thanks to donations like these, places like McKinney Shelter in Hartford and St. Agnes Home in West Hartford can provide something many families desperately need, but have no budget to buy. The representative at the McKinney shelter was quick to say that 'donations of toiletries are an always-needed commodity and not a commodity that is always available.'

 Thank you UTFlight, for playing an active role in the Movement to Solve Hunger!

ShopRite of East Hartford -- making hunger a priority!

The staff at ShopRite of East Hartford works hard each week to set aside food that goes directly to shelters, pantries and community kitchens in their community. In 2014, this store donated 72,843 meals worth of food through Foodshare’s Retail Pick-up Program. What makes them truly remarkable partners in the fight to solve hunger is that in addition to the food, they also find other ways to support Foodshare. Last year they organized a family carnival with proceeds to benefit Foodshare, contributed last minute cash and turkey donations in November to help us meet our goal, attended the annual Convoy of Caring, and helped to prepare and distribute meals for local community kitchens. The management and staff at ShopRite of East Hartford make helping hungry people in the community a priority all year long and Foodshare is so grateful for their enthusiasm and support.

Do you work for a food retailer, manufacturer or distributor? Learn how your company can support Foodshare's mission to solve hunger.

Hunger in schools is still widespread

Most educators regularly see students come to school hungry, and school breakfast programs often are inadequate for addressing the issue. Hunger in Our Schools 2015, a new report from No Kid Hungry, finds that 75% of public school teachers say their students regularly attend school hungry, causing them to lose concentration, lack energy, and have more behavioral problems. Although 94% of public schools offer breakfast programs, participation remains low because the programs are delivered poorly. Many start too early, single out students who need breakfast, and require too much effort on the part of students, the report says.

Source: Share Our Strength, Hunger in Schools

What can you do? Many of our Hunger Action Teams are battling this issue. Consider joining a HAT in your community, or forming one if one doesn't already exist. Learn more...

Food for the Mouth, Music for the Ears, and Hope for the Heart

The Fern Street Community Kitchen at the Unitarian Universalist Church in West Hartford sent us a copy of their newsletter describing the most recent dinner there. The menu included such items as vegetable crudités with dip, sausage hash with sweet potato and assorted vegetables, and New York cheesecake for dessert.

The food is impressive enough, but the kicker is that dinner included live classical music by a string quintet. Just think what it must mean to people who are under constant financial and emotional stress, who only hear the word “no,” to be treated to fine food and beautiful classical music. It tells clients that they deserve to be treated with dignity and it surely must give them a boost to get up and try again the next day. Altogether, it’s a model for what could happen elsewhere, and it happened here because people in the community volunteered their time and talent.

Almost any talent can be useful in the effort to solve hunger—a viola virtuoso can make a huge difference in the life of a hungry person. To put your skills to work, join the Movement to Solve Hunger or call Foodshare at 860-286-9999 to learn how you can help.

"Churning" Hurts Everyone

Recent testimony before Congress highlighted the causes and consequences for SNAP participants of “churning,” the process that occurs when a household receiving SNAP exits the program and then re-enters within four months or less. An Urban Institute study found that churn rates across the 6 participating states range from 17 to 28% for FY 2011. The causes of churn are complex. Fluctuations in SNAP recipients’ earnings appear to play only a limited role. The much larger story, however, is that procedural difficulties, which typically happen when an agency is recertifying a household’s eligibility or when a recipient reports on household changes that might affect monthly benefits, also cause churn. Churn has financial consequences to both agencies and clients. Re-opening cases requires a new application, which cost agencies more than recertification. Clients lose the benefits they may have been eligible for during their churn spell.

Source: Urban Institute, SNAP Churn

Foodshare's Volunteer SNAP Outreach program is working to ease the process of applying for these benefits. Learn more about this program and how you can be a part of it.

Congress Begins Summer Meals Reauthorization

Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Lisa Murkowski have introduced a bill to make the Summer Meals Program available to more children and simplify the administration of the program. The Summer Meals Act would:

• Allow community-based organizations to participate if 40% (rather than the current 50%) of the children in the area are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
• Allow local government agencies and private nonprofit organizations to feed children year-round – after school and in the summer – through a single Summer Food Service Program process.
• Provide funding for transportation grants to fund innovative approaches and mobile meal trucks.
• Allow all sites to serve a third meal.

Source: Food Research Action Center, Summer Meals

Become a Foodshare e-advocate and help to support anti-hunger legislation like this!

Congress Reviews SNAP

Congressional Republicans this week began a comprehensive review of the food stamp program  (SNAP) to determine what is working – and to eliminate what in their view is not – a move that could affect thousands of recipients in Connecticut. Doug Besharov, a University of Maryland professor, testified that food stamps and other social programs often provide a disincentive for the unemployed to find work who said, “The work-discouraging effect of safety-net programs should be neither surprising or controversial. Their very purpose is making getting a job less urgent”.

Even without Congressional action, thousands of unemployed Connecticut SNAP recipients may find they are no longer eligible after the end of the year—the state’s waiver from the requirement that “able-bodied" adults without dependents, work or be in a job training program for at least 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps for more than 90 days in any three-year period expires at the end of the year, and Congress is not expected to extend it.

Read more about it in the CT Mirror's article, "Food stamp program under GOP microscope."

Grant Dollars Available

USDA has $9 million in funding available to assist low-income individuals and communities in developing local and independent food systems. The Community Food Projects program involves the entire food system. Projects assess strengths and establish connections among existing food systems, resulting in improved food systems that support self-reliance. Grants are intended to help eligible, private, nonprofit entities in need of a one-time installment of federal assistance to establish and carry out multipurpose community food projects. Past projects include Philadelphia Green, which supports small-scale growers in their efforts to bring fresh, locally grown produce to the Philadelphia metro area, and RootDown LA, which is engaging Los Angeles-area youth in community gardens. Projects are funded from $10,000 to $400,000 for up to 36 months. All grants require a dollar-for-dollar match in resources. Applications are due March 17, 2015.

Source: USDA, 2/19/15, Federal Funds Available

USDA Launches Initiative to Develop New Solutions to End Child Hunger

In a speech at the 2015 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference about the extent of childhood hunger in America and the impact of USDA programs on reducing food insecurity, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more than $27 million in grants to fund innovative projects designed help end childhood hunger. The announcement was part of USDA efforts during National Nutrition Month to focus on poverty and food insecurity among children, especially in rural areas. These projects will be tested in Kentucky, Nevada, and Virginia, as well as the Chickasaw and Navajo tribal nations.

"Too many children in America live in households that don't always know where their next meal is coming from. Many families are forced to buy cheaper, less healthy foods because they don't have resources to purchase healthier options, or don't live close to a store that sells healthy food," Secretary Vilsack said. "At USDA, we're deeply committed to ensuring that all Americans, especially children, have access to a healthy diet whether at home or at school. The goal of ending child hunger in America is absolutely achievable, and this new initiative will help us test innovated strategies for getting there."

Read More...

Illuminating Intersections: Hunger and Health

 

As a Feeding America partner, we too understand the importance of providing the healthiest food we can when it is available. Last year Foodshare distributed 5 million pounds of produce (the equivalent of nearly 4.2 million meals) thanks to wonderful donations received through many of our food industry partners.

This also would not be possible without your donations, which directly support programs like Mobile Foodshare and Retail Pick-up. Thank you for helping to make Greater Hartford a healthier and happier community for us all!

Food Waste is a Serious Issue

A new report shows that about 60 million metric tons of food are wasted a year in the U.S., with an estimated value of $162 billion. About half of it ends up in municipal landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local governments. The problem is not limited to the U.S.—1/3 of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The UN says food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s 870 million hungry people.

Source: New York Times, Food Waste Costs

 

More Kids Eating Breakfast at School

More low-income kids are eating school breakfast in communities across the U.S., according to new analyses by the Food Research and Action Center that look at school breakfast participation at the district, state, and national levels.

During the 2013-2014 school year, an average of 11.2 million low-income children ate a healthy morning meal each day at school, an increase of 320,000 children from the previous school year. Breakfast participation in Connecticut grew 4.5%, but at 47.4% of those kids who get free- or reduced-price lunch, participation is still below the national average. And, while a growing number of Connecticut schools are participating in the federal breakfast program, the state continues to have the lowest school participation rate in the nation (74.7%).

Thankfully we have Hunger Action Teams hard at work throughout the region working on this very problem! Look at this amazing work happening in West Hartford...

Breakfast Around the World

Part of a year-long project funded by Foodshare to ensure language is not a barrier to School Breakfast in West Hartford:

Much Love for Manchester Walmart!

Associates and Managers of fresh food departments at Manchester Walmart

Walmart Manchester is a special place. It is filled with people, from top management to store associates, who truly care about donating to hungry people in their community. As participants in the store donation program, this Walmart chooses to donate six days each week, instead of the typical three days per week. And while some stores are generous about donating from one or two departments, the Manchester store sets aside donations from meat, frozen, dairy, bakery, produce and dry goods. In 2014, their generous donations totaled over 120,000 meals worth of food! They did this by making good choices each day about which unsalable items were still edible and nutritious. Walmart Manchester is the very best example of a partnership that really works.

Learn more about how you can partner with Foodshare's Retail Pick-Up Program.

March: Immediate Volunteer Needs

Mobile Foodshare
Mobile Foodshare is an outdoor food distribution for persons of low income. The food choices vary from week to week but usually include bread and several types of fresh produce. One volunteer rides with a Foodshare driver and assists in distribution. We currently have an ongoing opportunity to work every other Tuesday 8:00am – 2:30pm, as well as an "on call" volunteer to help fill in for our regular volunteers. Please contact Edna for more information and availability.

Mesh Bags
Foodshare uses mesh bags (think onion bags from the store) to pack much of the fresh produce we distribute. We buy the mesh in large rolls, however it needs to be cut to the right length and one end closed into a bag with a knot. We are currently experiencing a shortage in bags and need help “making” more bags. This volunteer activity can be completed at Foodshare, or at your home or business. We would be happy to provide volunteers with mesh and have you bring completed bags back to us. Please contact Keith or Edna for more information.

States getting better at increasing SNAP participation

More people who were eligible for SNAP benefits in 2012 took advantage of the program than in 2011—83% compared to 78%—but rates varied widely among states, according to a new USDA report. SNAP participation among the working poor in 2012 was 72% nationally, which is considerably lower than the overall participation rate. Some states that ranked relatively high in reaching SNAP-eligible people overall did poorly in reaching SNAP eligible working-poor people. At 90% overall participation,* Connecticut ranked in the top 1/3 of states, but at 74% of working poor people participating, it ranked in the bottom half.

Source: USDA, 2/18/15, SNAP Participation

(*USDA figures for Connecticut are estimations based on a sample pool of the overall population)