Experiencing What It Means to be Part of the Share Our Strength Network
Posted by Joyce Hardy on Tuesday, February 8, 2011
As the Director of the No Kid Hungry Arkansas campaign that just launched last fall, I’m new to the Share Our Strength network.
As our campaign in Arkansas is getting off the ground, we’re learning so much from the other successful state based No Kid Hungry campaigns, like those in Maryland and Colorado. So I jumped at the chance for me and a colleague to attend Colorado’s recent Summer Food Summit, in which they gathered hunger groups in the state to focus on summer meals. We were ready to learn all that we could to bring back to Arkansas.
At the Summit, we started talking about our programs, what new ideas we have, and finding out how Colorado is dealing with issues we’re trying to figure out.
The first workshop I went to was “Summer Food Program 101,” with panelists from the USDA-FNS Special Nutrition Programs, the Denver Public Schools, The Pinon Project Family Resource Center, and the Crossroads of the Rockies. Even though I have worked with a summer program, it was helpful to find out about some of the changes and about how Colorado has set up its program. It seemed that there were only a few sponsors and lots of sites. A lot of the Summit participants were there to learn about what it would mean to be a summer feeding site. Those who had had experience were generous in sharing their experiences. Since Curtis actually runs the Arkansas Summer Food program, he went to the “Creative Expansion Strategies” breakout session and heard from representatives from the Food Bank of the Rockies, a sponsor of many summer feeding sites; the Food Research Action Center, and the New Mexico Collaboration to End Hunger.
After a break, we went to the next set of workshops. I went to the “Looking Beyond the Usual Suspects: Creating Effective Partnerships for Summer Food” session. We heard about partnerships that several sites had developed to feed children more effectively and from Courtney Smith, Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Director. Curtis, the Arkansas State Summer Food Director, went to a breakout session where a representative from the Colorado Department of Education Nutrition & Transportation Unit, the Food Nutrition Director from the Weld County School District and Christina Morgner, SOS’s Remote Program Manager for Cooking Matters discussed incorporating fresh and local foods into summer meals.
During lunch, we heard from State Representative Ken Summers, a hunger relief champion, who affirmed the good work that sites across the state were involved in and encouraging more organizations to become summer food sites.
After lunch, Curtis participated in the breakout session which focused on increasing the number of summer feeding sites in rural areas of the state. Panelists included staff from The Production Company, the Weld Food Bank, and The Prairie Center Family Resource Center. I went to a workshop that focused on using mapping tools to expand the summer food program, especially in urban areas of the state. Matthew Barry, the Research Officer for the Piton Foundation, and Bob Overstreet with Hunger Free Colorado.
Summit organizers set aside time for organizations to meet by area to see how they might network to expand the summer food program in their part of the state. I sat in with the Denver area group, which included both experienced sponsors and sites and agencies considering developing a Summer Food program.
The last breakout session of the day, “Media, Marketing, and Community Outreach,” helped us think about our message for our target groups and about how to work with the various media in our community.
It was a long day with lots of information, but it was very energizing to be around so many people who are passionate about ending childhood hunger. I hope when we sponsor trainings or summits, we can invite other states so we can learn from them as they learn about some of best practices.
February 8, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: Arkansas, colorado, hunger, No Kid Hungry, partners, summer meals
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