Small towns and hunger

Rural eastern Connecticut is dotted with small towns that often have classic, white clapboard Congregational Churches at their center.  Very picturesque.

But if you go to one of these churches on the right day, you might find the Mobile Foodshare truck there with over 100 people in line for food!


The Mobile Foodshare site at
First Congregational Church in Coventry



Today, I visited the Mobile Foodshare sites at Andover Congregational Church, where they served 111 households and First Congregational Church in Coventry, where they served 129 households.  Each household received yogurt, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, green onions, and grapefruit.  At both sites, I saw a mix of senior citizens and young families. 

The Mobile Foodshare truck was going on from Coventry to the Willington Senior Center and the Somers Congregational Church before returning to Foodshare for the day, but I had to head back after the Coventry distribution for other commitments in my calendar.

The Mobile Foodshare truck parked behind
the Andover Congregational Church

URBAN INSTITUTE: HELPING FAMILIES AGENDA

A two-generation policy agenda that promotes young children's development and low-wage workers' economic stability should start with a national focus on the first year of life, says Urban Institute fellow Olivia Golden. For every distressing national poverty statistic, the numbers for children are worse. While one-sixth of all Americans live in poverty and one-third live in "near poverty," with incomes below 200% of the poverty level, one fourth of children under age five are poor and nearly half fall are "near poor."  a national focus on the first year of life. Golden’s agenda includes paid family leave, a minimum amount of paid sick leave, health insurance for low-income adults, improved access to high-quality child care, and more effective home visiting programs.

Source: Urban Institute, 5/9/13, Poverty Agenda

Phone system upgrades

The phone system is being upgraded today at Foodshare.  It's possible this may mean dropped calls or an inability to reach us by phone at some points during the day.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding! 

The upgraded phones will better serve our needs, and don't worry, when you call us, a human being will still answer the phone!

Oklahoma food bank begins disaster response

A devastating tornado touched down near Oklahoma City on Monday destroying more than 8,000 homes and resulting in dozens of fatalities. And just like in other national disasters, a Feeding America Member food bank is on the ground, ready to help as soon as the storm passed. Immediately following the disaster, The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma began the process of mobilizing staff and volunteers to distribute food and supplies to the countless people in need in their service area.

At this point, the food bank is requesting handheld snacks and ready-to-eat foods for distribution but NOT canned pantry box items. Water is also a priority, but the preference would be to source water from other food banks who are geographically close to Oklahoma City.

Feeding America, Volutary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), and FEMA do NOT encourage community food drives outside the State of Oklahoma.  Instead food banks within the network and food companies who work with Feeding America will provide these items in tractor-trailer load quantities to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

To learn more about ways to help that will be most effective, go to the FEMA website

Foodshare staff fire extinguisher training

Volunteer Coordinator Edna
Bailey tries it out.

Yesterday, training in the use of a fire extinguisher took the place of our regular monthly staff meeting.  Everyone who wanted to had the the chance to actually put out a fire with an extinguisher.  I know how important this is, for I have actually used the training to use a fire extinguisher at home and put out a small fire!  It was good to know exactly what to do and not have to stop and read the label or something!

Receptionist Arelys Fernandez
puts out the fire.

Disaster Response

Our hearts are broken watching the horrific news out of Oklahoma.

But know that Feeding America and the food banks around the nation are part of the disaster response efforts and will be working hard to make sure that both survivors and first responders have food and water and other essentials.

I will keep you posted as I know more.

SNAP IS EFFICIENT

SNAP has one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program. Almost 95% of federal SNAP spending goes directly to families to buy food. Most of the rest goes toward administrative costs, including reviews to determine that applicants are eligible, monitoring of retailers that accept SNAP, and anti-fraud activities. Only 3% of SNAP benefits represent overpayments, meaning they either went to ineligible households or went to eligible households but in excessive amounts. SNAP achieved its lowest error rate on record in fiscal year 2011, with a net national overpayment rate of only 2.2%.

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/9/13, SNAP Efficiency