North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks

Best Stimulus Package May Be Food Stamps

NCAFAFB — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:02:11 +0000

Best Stimulus Package May Be Food Stamps

By Evan Soltas Bloomberg May 6, 2013

Modern fiscal policy doesn’t work the way it did in the days of John Maynard Keynes and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When Roosevelt increased federal spending from 1941 to 1945, the money went almost exclusively to direct purchases of goods and services. Today, fiscal stimulus happens mainly through taxes and transfers. More at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-06/best-stimulus-package-may-be-food-stamps.html

Feeding Frenzy Winners Determined

NCAFAFB — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:03:13 +0000

From the N.C. Bar Association

The 2013 North Carolina Legal Feeding Frenzy is over. All that’s left now, in addition to distributing approximately 180,000 pounds which will provide the equivalent of 150,000 meals for our hungry neighbors across the state, is to recognize the winners.

Attorney General Roy Cooper did just that on Wednesday, April 24, when the coveted Attorney General’s Cup was presented to the overall champion during an awards ceremony at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary.

The Piedmont Natural Gas Legal Department of Charlotte claimed the overall championship and will receive the Attorney General’s Cup.

Winners in their respective categories, based on pounds of food donated per person, are:

Sole Practitioner (1-10 employees): Simonsen Law Firm, PC, Edenton
Small Firm (11-50 employees): District Court Judges of Wake County
Medium Firm (51-100 employees): Blanco Tackabery & Matamoros, P.A., Winston-Salem
Large Firm (more than 100 employees): Moore & Van Allen PLLC
Law School: Campbell University School of Law

The North Carolina Feeding Frenzy food drive was conducted from March 18-April 5 under the direction of the NCBA Young Lawyers Division and the N.C. Association of Food Banks.

Both organizations extend their appreciation to Attorney General Cooper for his support of this endeavor and to the hundreds of attorneys and law firm/organization employees who participated in this worthwhile cause.

For a complete list of participants go to: http://ncfoodbanks.org/feeding-frenzy-participants/

Vote to Support Your Local Food Bank’s Effort to Fight Child Hunger

NCAFAFB — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:23:24 +0000

Walmart is giving $3 million to 100 Feeding America network

food banks and their partner feeding agencies.

Logon to http://wm8.walmart.com/hunger to find your local food bank. The link will take to the Facebook voting site where you can enter and vote for your favorite food bank. The winning food banks will receive up to $45,000 to assist their ongoing efforts to fight child hunger in your community.

VOTE TODAY!!

Food banks adopting healthy food standards

NCAFAFB — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:50:27 +0000

Food banks adopting healthy food standards

Published: March 5, 2013

By Andrea K. Walker — Baltimore Sun

Food banks across the country are adopting policies to make sure the people they serve get nutritious meals, according to Yale research.The groups that help feed the hungry are concerned about the rise in obesity and other illnesses, even among those people who cannot afford regular meals, the researchers at the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity found.The study was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

LEGAL FEEDING FRENZY SET TO LAUNCH

NCAFAFB — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:11:06 +0000

No one should go hungry, especially children.

That is why Attorney General Roy Cooper is joining forces with the Young Lawyers Division of the North Carolina Bar Association and the N.C. Association of Food Banks for the 2013 North Carolina Legal Feeding Frenzy.

The food and fund drive competition between North Carolina law firms and organizations, which runs from March 18 to April 5, will assist North Carolina’s Feeding America Food Banks.

To register for the competition or to get more information go to www.nclegalfeedingfrenzy.com

Congress: Do No Harm to SNAP

NCAFAFB — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:59:28 +0000

James S. Marks Senior vice president, RWJF Health Group

From the day I entered medicine, I was taught a simple rule: first, do no harm. As debate continues on a compromise for the next Farm Bill, the vast majority of which authorizes funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Congress should heed that advice. See more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-s-marks/congress-do-no-harm-to-sn_b_2270786.html

NJ mayor to live on food stamps

NCAFAFB — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:40:19 +0000

NJ mayor to live on food stamps starting Tuesday

Published – Nov 29 2012 06:48PM EST

KATIE ZEZIMA, Associated Press

(Associated Press)In this Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 file photo, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, left, greets 13-year-old Blonbzell Taylor outside of Clinton Hill Community Resource Center, where residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy received clothing donations in Newark, N.J.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mayor Cory Booker said he will live on food stamps for a week starting Tuesday.

Booker told The Associated Press on Thursday that he will honor the challenge he made to a Twitter follower earlier this month and try living on the monetary equivalent of food stamps for at least a week.

“December 4 to 11. Seven days,” Booker said after the ribbon cutting for new loft apartments in Newark. He said he will be limited to $1.40 for each meal.

The North Carolina woman Booker challenged plans to accept, but she is not sure she will do it next week.

More at: http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/55255278/78299939/NJ_mayor_to_live_on_food_stamps_starting_Tuesday

Potential waste turns into 465,000 meals

NCAFAFB — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:20:09 +0000

MIKE HUGHLETT , Star Tribune

Call it the great corn rescue of 2012.

Big ripe ears of Minnesota sweet corn destined to become Green Giant niblets were instead going to be wasted. With a bountiful harvest this month, the cannery simply couldn’t process it all.

Then a new campaign — handiwork of local food relief groups and corporations — swung into action, quickly moving the corn from the fields to the food banks. “It’s beautiful corn, and it only lasts for a period of time,” said Ellie Lucas, chief campaign officer for Hunger-Free Minnesota.

The immediate result: 600,000 pounds of corn was transformed into 465,000 meals eaten by people in 10 states. The bigger picture: success for a pilot program that can, it is hoped, be replicated in the widespread battle against hunger and food waste.

Goldsboro rickshaws bring produce to poor neighborhoods

NCAFAFB — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:18:59 +0000

By Jay Price The News and Observer

GOLDSBORO — An idealistic partnership of academics, community leaders and local teens here is trying a novel solution to the national problem of poor nutrition in low-income neighborhoods: rickshaws.
Or rather, teenage food ambassadors on rickshaws, delivering farmers market produce to areas where places to buy fresh vegetables are scarce. Along the way, they spread information about healthy eating.
The Produce Ped’lers bike delivery program made its first delivery rides Wednesday. The riders loaded up vegetables, peaches and melons at a small farmers market in Herman Park in Goldsboro in the morning, then rolled into low-income neighborhoods. They stopped at homes and shops to deliver pre-ordered vegetables, talked to potential customers sitting on front porches and were themselves questioned by others who wondered aloud what the heck they were up to on those strange machines.

Food banks’ lean times threaten to get worse

NCAFAFB — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:06:56 +0000

By Alan Briggs, Executive Director N.C. Assoc of Food Banks
North Carolina’s seven food banks see firsthand the effect the nation’s struggling economy has had on our neighbors. Many families are still hurting from the impact of high and prolonged unemployment, reduced hours and wages or the struggle to live on a single salary.
North Carolina has one of the highest unemployment rates and percentage of citizens experiencing food hardship in the nation. This is especially true for children under age 5 and our seniors.
Food banks across the nation continue to see unprecedented need. The number of people seeking emergency food assistance from the Feeding America network of food banks ballooned by 46 percent from 2006 to 2010. In North Carolina the growth was higher.