Aetna Fills Foodshare With Volunteers

This Wednesday was a busy day at Foodshare! We hosted 170 volunteers from Aetna who spent the entire day sorting food to help our neighbors in need, and learning more about hunger in our community.

Our facility at the Hartford Regional Market hosted about 45 of the volunteers and the remaining 125 volunteers were hard at work at our facility in Bloomfield. The volunteers were part of Aetna’s summer internship program, and they included students from over 80 colleges and universities from across the country.

The volunteers were divided into groups and rotated through different stations: sorting donations of meat and other grocery items, sorting produce, and preparing mesh bags that Foodshare uses to pack produce. The Aetna interns also learned more about hunger and its many causes through a Hunger 101 role-play and discussion activity.

Altogether, this energetic group from Aetna sorted 28,500 pounds of food in a single day. That’s enough to provide close to 24,000 meals for our neighbors in need.

A big thank you to the volunteers and staff members from Aetna for taking time to give back to the Greater Hartford community!

Do you have a group that’s interested in volunteering at Foodshare? Click here to learn more!

Sharing our mission

Our Jewish friends and neighbors are preparing for the High Holy Days which begin with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, on the evening of October 2. According to Jewish tradition, in the month leading up to the holiday, Jews begin a process of self-examination and repentance.

Amid, this reflection upon past behavior is the practice of repairing the world. Our friends at Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor reached out to Foodshare as their vehicle to improve the lives of people struggling with hunger in Greater Hartford.

On Sunday, September 25, a grade class from their Religious School, along with several adult members, participated in Foodshare’s interactive Hunger 101 program. The program helps to educate young and old alike on the problem of food insecurity--not knowing where your next meal will come from.

Concerns over food insecurity have existed thoughtout history. Yet, the folks at Temple Beth Hillel, are fighting hunger in the here and now for South Windsor residents, by hosting a “free”zer – a freezer in the Temple’s social hall that offers a place for anyone to leave a meal for a family in need no questions asked. Additionally, they host a charity bank, tzedakah box, which is a replica of a famous synagogue in Poland, where anyone can donate to Foodshare. This helps Foodshare provide people in Greater Hartford with fresh and nutritious produce, dairy and proteins.

Nourish, Inspire & Advocate–Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor is helping Foodshare achieve all three prongs of our mission to solve hunger, thank you!

A note of thanks!

We recently received a thoughtful note from a group of kids at Congregation Beth Israel:

"My 8th graders wanted to thank you for the Hunger 101 workshop on 10/18. They had a great time and learned a lot. I've attached a picture of a poster they made to thank you for coming in. We're looking forward to working with you again in the future!"

Thanks to Naomi and her wonderful students--we are so happy to hear you enjoyed learning about our work!

Breakthrough Magnet School and Stop & Shop Get it Done

Ms. Peruki's fifth-grade class at the Breakthrough Magnet School in Hartford has been studying healthy eating and budgeting this year, and they rounded out the year by working with Stop & Shop's Peapod service to purchase and donate food to Foodshare. This afternoon, the Peapod truck showed up and so did the kids, who unloaded all the food they had purchased with funding from Stop & Shop. They got the job done in record time, and then got a tour of the building and participated in a Hunger 101 role-playing exercise facilitated by Foodshare Ambassador Prasad Menon. We're very grateful to the class and to Stop & Shop for their continuing support of our work.

Breaking Bread Records!

Students from Rockville High School joined us today for a morning of sorting bread followed by Hunger 101 in the afternoon (a role-playing exercise in which participants walk a mile in the shoes of hungry neighbors). This small group -- 16 students and 2 teachers -- managed to break a record, sorting over 12,000 pounds of bread in under 3 hours! Considering how light one loaf of bread is, that's a pretty impressive feat.

The Hunger 101 activity challenged each student to provide 3 healthy meals for their family on a daily allowance ranging from $1 - $6 per day. Needless to say there was plenty of hustle as students made their way through the grocery store, food pantry, and Department of Social Services, learning about the various challenges hungry people face.

What a great group -- thanks to all of you for making the trek, and for being a part of the solution!

#SolvingHunger  #JointheMovement

 

 

A Visit from Miss Porter's School

Many thanks to Miss Porter's School who visited us in Bloomfield yesterday for a Hunger 101and tour. They even spent the afternoon volunteering in reclamation!

ESPN employees donate

The employees of ESPN’s North campus in Bristol held a cross-departmental food drive competition that culminated this week in collecting over 15,000 items of food! The Travel Team won the first prize trophy with a whopping 57 items per person donated to the drive. Don Brooks, head of ESPN’s Corporate Outreach, along with Chelsea and Jackie, shows off the room full of food that was collected! All of the food will go to Foodshare partner agencies in Bristol, New Britain, and Hartford.

 

In addition to the food drive, ESPN employees will have the opportunity to participate in one of three Hunger 101 sessions offered at the ESPN campus on Thursday throughout the day. Foodshare staff will facilitate the role-playing sessions with groups of 20-25 ESPN employees. The discussion activity is designed to increase awareness and understanding of hunger and its causes in our community, and allows people to experience the challenges of feeding a family on a limited budget through available social services.

 

Contact us if you’d like to host Hunger 101 sessions at your workplace, school, or community group!

Tranquil Menagerie 4H Club Walking Against Hunger!

We have so many amazing Walk teams and from time to time we like to show off the amazing work they are doing for Foodshare and our community!  Take, for example, the Tranquil Menagerie 4H Club.  Team captain, Jennifer Davis, had this to say of her amazing group:

"We have been walking as a team since 2012 (this will be our 3rd year) and have grown in numbers every year we have participated!  We began walking because we do a lot of community service through 4H and had been volunteering with Foodshare for a number of years (sorting produce, participating in the Hunger 101 project and the Hog Run). We wanted to continue to support Foodshare.  We encourage others in our club to join by sharing our experiences from previous years.  The kids share how fun it is as well as what a good thing it is to do.  We usually try and publish an article in our 4H newsletter letting others know what we are doing with our community service.  4H is a community of young people that promotes leadership, citizenship and life skills.  It's about developing mastery, generosity, independence and belonging which I think goes well with the Foodshare concept."

Well done Jennifer and the whole Tranquil Menagerie 4H Club!  To support their Walk efforts, click here.

Hunger 101

Has your organization taken part in Hunger 101?  This interactive, role-playing exercise allows the participants to play the role of a person in need trying to get enough food for his/her family.  It is a challenging and eye-opening experience.

The folks at Fathom recently took part and posted a great blog entry about the experience.

If you would like to schedule a Hunger 101 program for your workplace, school, or house of worship, just e-mail us at contactus@foodshare.org

Hunger 101

Yesterday, I presented Hunger 101 to a group of thirty middle school students who are taking part in a summer program run by the Charter Oak Cultural Center.  Yes, this many middle school students in a room would scare many people away, but I love working with kids of all ages.

The young people get really engaged in the role playing and the unfairness of it all, so I just hope that they take away some real lessons from the exercise.  And I was really pleased to have one young man blurt out in the middle of the debrief, "the system is broken."  Yes, indeed, that's the point!  The system is broken, not the people who work or volunteer in it and not the people who need help feeding their families!


I think they may have picked up that and more for here are some of the comments students made on their evaluation forms:

• The most important thing I learned is how hard it is for some people.
• The most important thing I learned is that you have to be a legal citizen to get SNAP (food stamps)
• It was a lot of trouble to get enough money for food
• Not everyone has enough to eat
• You need to fill out a lot of papers to get food stamps
• Many people have problems just trying to get food on the table
• It is important to help others in need
• It's important to save and spend your money wisely

Aetna employees learn and volunteer

Yesterday, a group of Aetna employees came to Foodshare to take part in Hunger 101, our interactive role-playing workshop that teaches about hunger.  And then they did some volunteer work in our Bloomfield distribution center.

Feedback from those who attended included:

"We all had a wonderful time at Foodshare.  Lucy was a phenomenal ambassador.  You all really opened our eyes about food insecurity and the important work Foodshare does (10 million meals, wow!!)"

"I was fortunate to be a part of the Foodshare team yesterday afternoon as part of the group from Aetna.  I just wanted to personally say thank you to you and Edna and Liz and the whole team for a great experience.  I would love to say it was an eye opening experience, but sadly, I know how difficult things can be for many people and families.  What was eye opening to me was the actual number of people receiving assistance.  Your statistic about Foodshare serving 10 million meals last year, but only meeting 1/3 of the need is astounding.  I feel so fortunate to be able to lead the life that I do and enjoy the comforts of a roof over my head and food on the table (and I do realize these are comforts) and I do already donate to food banks and soup kitchens on a fairly regular basis, but after visiting Foodshare yesterday, I feel even more motivated to help.  Thank you for being such a gracious and inspirational hostess for me and my colleagues!!  I am sure a member of the team will be sending a thank you note from all of us, but I really felt strongly compelled to send a personal message."

 

Are you part of a group that would like a tour or a Hunger 101 presentation or a volunteer experience?  Just get in touch and let us know!

Hunger 101 and paper plates

This week the Unity Church invited Foodshare to it's Eastern Region conference in Hartford. We presented Hunger 101 to the group and followed up with SNAP education and an advocacy exercise. Conference attendees were ministers and many had no idea of what is happening with SNAP in Congress.

They filled out paper plates, encouraging their legislators to keep the program strong. Several also had an interest in bringing the exercise back to their congregations. Attendees came from as far away as West Virginia, so a good number of Eastern region legislators will be hearing from them this month.

Foodshare can provide several good on line resources to help do the same activity in your faith group, school or civic group. Contact Sarah ssantora@foodshare.org to get details.

Hunger 101

On Friday, I had the chance to present the Hunger 101 program to this year's class of "loaned executives" for the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut.  The loaned executives will work with United Way throughout the coming months on the annual campaign.

Hunger 101 is a role-playing program that allows the participants to play the role of a head of household tryign to get enough food for his or her family.  The participant has to figure out the family's food budget, then if it's not enough, can apply for help with SNAP or go to the food pantry. 

I often find it's a real eye-opener for people, and from the comments on Friday's evaluation forms, I think this time was no exception:

• "In a short timeframe, we got to experience a tiny taste of what it would be like to be in this situation."
• "Some of the simple things in life (for us) are major hurdles for the working poor."
• "It was a great presentation of the harsh conditins people deal with in trying to buy food or enroll in program to help."
• "It takes a lot of resources to ensure food is available...money, time, and planning."

If you would like to have Hunger 101 presented at your organization, get in touch with Volunteer Coordinator Edna Bailey.

Church youth group gets involved

This evening, I headed into work, yes, even though it's Sunday!  The senior high youth fellowship from First Church in Simsbury was coming to Foodshare for a Hunger 101 presentation and a tour of our building.  Their were 32 people here and it was great to both share with them about Foodshare's work and hear about the exciting projects these young people are undertaking.  They are regular tutors for elementary school aged children in Hartford, which is way more important that volunteering at Foodshare.  By tutoring and mentoring a child, they might well help break the cycle and change that child's life forever!

Their trip to Foodshare was in preparation for their participation in the Walk Against Hunger, coming up in just two weeks!  I look forward to seeing this enthusiastic group of young people there!

Hunger 101

On Friday, I presented a Hunger 101 program for the volunteers at the Windsor Food Bank.  It was interesting doing this interactive program with a group of people who already know a lot about why people are hungry, but from their comments, I guess they still learned some new things.  When asked in the evaluation forms, "What was the most important thing you learned from Hunger 101?" here were some of the answers:

• It's tough feeding a family when you are poor.
• People living above the poverty level need help.
• How many people need assistance.
• The challenges faced in obtaining help when your family needs food
• I was aware of the complexity of getting on state programs, but it was interesting to see this in action.
• Help is difficult to get.
• How frustrating it must be to try to get assistance.
• Myth about illegal aliens receiving help.  (Undocumented immigrants CANNOT receive SNAP benefits and even most legal immigrants cannot.  I saw the surprise on people's faces when I told them this.)
• To be more aware of other's situations, even if it's not obvious.

If you are interested in a Hunger 101 presentation for your church or synagogue, employee group, or other organization, please get in touch with us.

Student leaders from Africa take part in Foodshare activities

UConn is hosting 40 college student leaders from West and North Africa taking part in two Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Social Entrepreneurship. The purpose of these institutes is to promote a better understanding of the U.S. abroad and help to develop future world leaders through exploring the principles of democracy and fundamental American values such as individual rights, freedom of expression, pluralism and tolerance, and volunteerism.

The student leaders participated in Hunger 101, a role playing simulations of the challenges people face putting food on the table. Many of the participants were surprised so many obstacles exist in getting basic aid. The group also is weeding and helping out at the 4-H Foodshare garden at Auer Farm in Bloomfield and sorting produce at the regional market. We are grateful for taking time out of their intense schedule to lend a hand and make a difference.