I've got another one - get creative!!

For example, we have a project running called the Soup Lady Project which is an example of alternative food assistance. We took one person who loves to cook (and has time) and paired them up with a funding network. This allows us to make 4.5 gallons of tasty nutritious soup for a homeless shelter in San Francisco. Every Wednesday I pick up a bucket of soup from the cook and deliver it to the shelter, where they have the empty bucket from the previous week waiting to swap out. In doing this we make healthy real food accessible to people who don't have the money, space or opportunity to cook for themselves.

The economics are astounding and match up to what you find in the Food Stamp Challenge you mentioned. You can make healthy tasty food for under $1/serving. That means for each meal we make we need about $30/month to fund it. The network we've managed to create so far consists of "Soup Lady Sponsors" who are set up to automatically donate $5/month through Pay Pal. It turns into a hardly noticeable expense which leads directly to bringing food to about 7 people who really need it.

If you've studied what it's like to be homeless or known someone who had to live on the streets for any period of time you know how it can be a full time job just to secure a bed for the night, much less healthy food three times a day. Most people end up leveraging convenience foods which are cheap but terribly unhealthy. Finding ways to support these people is simply a humane lifestyle choice. Many people who choose to participate make the choice to have one less alcoholic drink each month or to cut back on some other frivolous expense.

When you add up the hypothetical impact of everyone who lives in San Francisco, for example, carving out $5/month to support food assistance... the result is the effective end of hunger in the city. The result is a network of support which makes tasty nutritious food available to every citizen as a human right.

Thanks for your hard work in drawing attention to the problem of hunger here in America. It's something most people don't think of when they consider the impact of hunger but the truth is that it undermines our society's efforts more than we understand. The Harvard School of Public Health's study on the economic cost burden of hunger in America estimated the yearly cost burden of hunger at over $90B. That's Billions with a capital B. That's a huge negative cost to our systems of healthcare, education and business which we could avoid by simply funding food assistance programs. If the government won't choose to do it with the tons of tax money we pay them, it's our responsibility to do it ourselves.

If you'd like to read more about my project or hunger in America in general please feel free to visit my site at:
www.feedpeopleproject.org

Again... thanks... and have a great week!

- S

Great blog ! Keep up the great work. 

The majority of your suggested actions involve asking the government to steal money from some people and give it to others.  There should be one suggestion and one suggestion only, you and everyone reading this should donate food to a local food bank and volunteer at a local soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or similar venue.  When you give money to the government, there are extremely high and productivity killing transaction fees that eat away at the money's effectiveness.  It is far more efficient for individuals to help other individuals as directly as possible.  The best part about it is, if the government didn't take away so much of our money in taxes, we'd have plenty left over to donate to charity and help out the poor.  Even if people donated less money than they pay in taxes, charities and local food banks are just so much more efficient than the government.

You people have got to stop relying so much on the government for everything.  Take some responsibility for yourselves and encourage others to do the same.

Here’s an idea,write all your Representatives and Senators and tell them to reverse all legislation that adds to the cost of food production.The ethanol program reduces the amount of land used in food production. Ethanol actually requires more energy to produce than it yields.Motor fuel taxes add to the cost of food production.The proposed Cap and Trade will add cost to energy and hence added cost to food production.Taxes on companies that produce, package, deliver, and sell food products add to the cost of food.Taxes on an individuals labor reduces the amount of money they have available for the purchase of food.The list can be quite extensive, but you get the idea.Big government requires more taxation of all kinds since the government actually produces nothing. More taxation means higher prices for everything, including food. Not to mention less spendable income for food.Telling your elected representatives to downsize government and reduce taxation will go a long way in reducing the cost of food and increase the supply to hungry children everywhere.   Mike FrickYorkville, IL

Hi Shannon,

    I am a great fan of your very valuable blog.  But I was greatly disturbed by a line in your last post: the quote of Eric Herbozo:  "... it is abominable that we could conceivably justify spending money elsewhere." People are dying of hunger and hunger related causes NOW.  Compassion can't be shelved until the richer countries have cleaned up their internal act.  The death of a single person dying of hunger - anywhere - is an abomination: a scar on the conscience of humankind.  Human beings need to stop thinking within the articfical lines of borders and start thinking within family - the human family.

Alison:
Philosophically, I agree with you. Distance is not a relevant difference when it comes to morality. If hunger occurs anywhere, then it must be stopped; thinking the United States is more important is a short-sighted and provincial idea, & cannot really be justified.

However, I still maintain that ending child hunger in America is an important priority. Like it or not, ending worldwide hunger just isn't easily accomplished. Many countries lack even the infrastructure necessary to effectively send food from one place to the next.

In order to raise the money needed to deal with global issues of poverty, we need a success story. Most people aren't willing to donate what is so desperately needed without having proof that their money is making a difference. And hunger is one of those issues that continuously seems to need more money.

If we can just make a high profile success, something on the order of permanently ending child hunger in America, then the world will HAVE to take notice. Imagine the funds we could raise if we ran commercials pointing out how our methods ended hunger domestically, and now we needed to do the same for all of humanity.

Domestic child hunger is honestly avhieveable within a decade. Where else can we find an accomplishable goal that is such a big deal? If we can focus on doing this, then we really can not only end child hunger in America by 2015, but also raise the funds necessary to work on ending poverty worldwide.  We NEED this success story. We really do.

Thanks for a very timely and policy-relevant posting. I too believe that one immediate action we should take is to advocate for an immediate increase in food stamp benefits. In fact, I've used your posting as the take-off point for a posting about this on my own blog, www.povertyandpolicy.wordpress.com.

Those who are going to step up to the food stamp challenge should know that they now have $22 per week to keep themselves nourished. They should also be aware that this amount is based on the maximum monthly allotment for an individual. Individuals with income receive less.

Hi Shannon,
   I would like to respond to Eric's reply to my comments.

Hello Eric,
    Thank you for your response.  You make a compelling argument.  BUT  .... what about the millions who would die in that decade without any form of financial aid?  What about them?
Sincerely,
Alison Flensburg

Wow. Look. I recently read this and wonder 'What shall I respond?' Hmmm....Do you have any suggestions?


A woman writes: I am hungry each day, and live on borrowed food now(stolen or promised to pay back)...I eat a TON of popcorn (always have anyways). I pay (owe now) $80 a week for a nice room in a Victorian mansion where compassionate, educated but saddened people live, hurt by others with alcoholism in their lives. They hold on dearly to slogans- Let God, Let Go.
 

A dear friend lent me $1000 for a truck. I gave my Vitamin C pills to my daughter. My unemployment compensation ran out in 2007, and I have not been able to consistently gain employment. Yet. I try.


We live in the hostile snowy territory of the Wisconsin Iceburg. The sky is getting ready to release a supposed 15 inches. A poet just called me, the Arts cannot be stopped, there is a show tonight, 'Bring a video camera and tape me, for I, too, may die of poverty and/or heart attacks from all the cigarettes I have smoked in my hardly decadent, but smokey, life'. I do not smoke, and rarely have I ever wasted money.


I will borrow gas money and go. Someone will buy me a drink. I will 'sweater' and then 'sweater' some more. I pray my tires last. I pray someone gives me a job. I pray that the people on SSI understand that they are the only ones with money. I pray the City does not tow me for tickets, like they have, and then I must give up, quitting the anger and fight, for I was towed last week. They tricked hundreds of people, and wound up with the bounty.


I spent a decade in real estate. I am happy that my daughter has a job and is in college and lives on her own. My son, seeking employment while in college too, climbed to a roof, for $8 an hour only to be paid AFTER the job is finished in weeks, all in order to push the slippery snow off. I told him, 'NO'. He stopped what he was doing. He will capture unemployment until the Ferry starts again on the Great Lake, anyways. That $8 and death is not worth it, to a young man with an immaculate future.


My friends have stories. I have stories. The best stories, are the stories that take time to hear. We make documentaries now. 


I am considering a hunger strike to stop the war. What other demands shall I raise to gain for the greater good?

Government, non-profits, and faith based that provide services and food to the homeless or low income families are still not using the technology at the grassroots level that could easily connect the giving community with those in need and maximise the services, and determine the unmet needs in each community. 

The cornerstone of helping those in need is to have available resources and services, easily accessible. Also to have a online multi-agency case management tool that is secure and easy to use to improve the chances that someone will be helped.

An example of one website that is effective with quick resources in every county in Washington State is 4People.org.  It also provides a community case management system.

We need these tools in every community across the country to truly mobilize and help people with the resources that are in the community.

Ronda Evans
4People.org

Normal 0 Most Americans that suffer from hunger and malnutrition is because of insufficient supply of foods that they intake in their body as well as poverty.  In United States, 35 million Americans including 12.6 million children live in a condition often described by the government as “food insecurity”. The root causes of this includes poverty, war, barriers to trade and even illiteracy and environmental degradation. This means that their households either suffer from hunger or struggle at the brink of hunger. Not just the number of people who suffers from hunger is increasing but also the unemployment rate and the number of layoffs, but it hasn't negatively affected payday loans.  Even though the number of people that lose their jobs due to massive job cuts, the demand for payday loans and advance lending has actually remained the same – in fact, it has gone up.  It isn't really a consolation; the unemployment rate is climbing worldwide, and climbing to levels that are the highest they’ve been since before World War 2. That isn't a problem any amount of payday loans are going to fix.