Quickly, I also wanted to alert people about this opportunity to purchase discounted foods, including meat. Perfect for the holidays! This is a quality program that helps those struggling a little bit, stretching every dollar to make them count–find a location near you.
The holiday rush is upon us, and thus I take this opportunity to wish you and yours the best during this season, my favorite time of year. I’m partial to Thanksgiving, but really all of October though December is alright by me.
Snoopy's always a good choice for this time of year.
Not alright is tremendous demand food banks are seeing this year, up much more than usual, even though the time around the holidays is when demand historically peaks. We did a rough back-of-the-envelope calculation a week or so ago and discovered Arizona food banks had moved 72% more food this year than at this time last year, but despite that increased distribution, they were only meeting about half of the total demand. Scary stuff really, when you consider so many affected are children.
My CEO passed this on to me earlier today, which also helps frame the issue succinctly:
36.5 million Americans currently take part in the Food Stamp Program, now officially called the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). That’s up by more than 10 million in just two years. This program gives those on low incomes a monthly average of US $101 per person, or $227 per household, to spend on food. Meanwhile, the USDA has also revealed the highest level of American food need ever recorded, with 17 million households, or 14.6%, struggling to put food on the table at times last year. Across the Atlantic, 43 million Europeans are currently at risk of food insecurity (8.6% of the total EU population).
Locally, Fresh & Easy grocery stores–another favorite of mine–reported that for the third quarter of 2009, sales for the 13-week period ended November 28, climbed 37.4%, following some SNAP benefits being extended. Costco recently announced it would accept SNAP benefits too, which is just another indication of how lucrative this market segment is… amazing to think of it as a desirable population for a retailer to reach, but there you have it.
Not all is bad though, I don’t want to bring people down, because this time of year does bring out some spirit, maybe even you could say the best in people. Now how to harness that and distribute it equitably year-round? Couldn’t tell you, I’m not a scientist, I don’t even like driving by Holiday Inn Expresses, but here are some recent stories from around Arizona that should put a smile on your face:
Finally, I’ll mention that if you’re struggling to find a gift for someone, hate malls, or just don’t have the time to be shopping all the time, consider a gift to AAFB in someone’s name. It’s a very honorable thing to do, and there’s a pretty sweet tax credit in it for you too! So long as you qualify, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah… but you get the idea! Your funds help feed your neighbor who might be down on their luck, and also helps fund advocacy that might help your neighbor not be so hungry in the first place, hopefully in the not so distant future. Remember, hunger is a fixable problem in this country if we want to fix it.
It’s officially November, which officially means Thanksgiving turkey and football. I happen to love both those things, culminating with the 8-legged turkey they used to give out to Barry Sanders every year during the Thanksgiving day football game after he ran for 170 yards or something. While I never believed in the existance of an 8-legged turkey, I can tell you that I wanted to believe in them more than the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. Just seemed like a pretty damned cool idea to me, what can I say? You gotta believe in something, right?
real turkey
I wish was real turkey... on a side note, this is the best photo of the famed bird I could come up with. come on interwebs, it's like 2010 almost and nobody's bothered to archive a better pic of an 8 legged turkey? for shame...
So sticking with the theme, wouldn’t you like to help out your neighbor with the gift of turkey? Food banks around Arizona are happy to receive turkey donations for those who might have to go without. Check out this select list of drop-off points and turkey drives that are just waiting for your participation! If you know of some others not mentioned here, feel free to send ‘em my way and we’ll get the word out! And if you’ve got a good Barry Sanders or John Madden story, share that as well.
I was really excited when friend and AAFB board member David Schwake sent me this article on his unique way of keeping kids fed at his elementary school. David is the Food Service Director for the Litchfield Elementary School District in Litchfield Park, a suburb west of Phoenix. The district serves a large portion of households at or near poverty (defined in 2009 as a family of four living on $22,050… ouch) and David has seen the negative impacts of hunger at his school: attendance problems, discipline issues, trouble concentrating, apathy toward learning, and so on. Something needed to be done, and a few years ago, David jumped into action.
I’ll let the article speak for itself–go ahead, read it now!–but damn if this isn’t an inexpensive, worthy idea that is generating positive results. I’ve also been fortunate to be David’s guest at the school, allowing me a first-hand view of all the activity, how the program works, and how the kids really respond to it… and respond they do! It’s downright encouraging to see a bunch of 5th graders so eager to work together on a school activity. You can’t help but realize they’re learning skills that will take them far in life, hands-on stuff, skills that a textbook–or I guess PC nowadays–just can’t convey in this way.
Amazingly, David tells me he’s done countless presentations, tours, demonstrations, you name it, to other principals, superintendents and school administrators, and while everyone seems impressed, very few have taken the next step to actually implement their own program, even though David has offered to help every step of the way. Why isn’t every school in Arizona doing this? There’s not even the excuse of there being no money in the budget. If you’re wondering the same thing and interested in possibly doing something like this at the school you work at, or the school your children attend, feel free to drop me a line.
One thing that doesn’t happen when you start a blog is people telling you how much time you really need to spend to make it something special. On that note, coming off a crazy busy month or two, here’s a my first post in 45-some-odd-days with whole bunch of stuff you should know about:
sleek and stylish, in time for fashion weeks everywhere
