Childhood Hunger

Latest News on September 2010

September 28 Tyson Foods marks decade of hunger relief

Over five years, Tyson workers have raised more than $350,000. Of that, 75 percent of the money stayed in the community where it was raised, with the remainder going to Share our Strength.

Bloomsberg BusinessWeek
September 24, 2010

Tyson Foods Inc. is marking the commitment the company made in 2000 to give food to people who are hungry.

The Springdale-based company said Friday it has given 38,000 tons of food over the past decade. That’s in addition to the support Tyson drew from its employees and customers.

Over five years, Tyson workers have raised more than $350,000. Of that, 75 percent of the money stayed in the community where it was raised, with the remainder going to Share our Strength.

Tyson CEO Donnie Smith says the company has donated food in 48 states and pledged that the company will continue to battle domestic hunger.

Tyson’s food donation equals 76 million pounds and was enough to produce 304 million meals.

September 28 Healthcare Monday

With the federal childhood nutrition program ending Thursday and just one week left on the House calendar, lawmakers will be under intense pressure all week to reauthorize the law.

The Hill
September 27, 2010

Childhood nutrition fight looms: With the federal childhood nutrition program ending Thursday and just one week left on the House calendar, lawmakers will be under intense pressure all week to reauthorize the law. Children’s advocates want the House to pass the Senate’s $4.5 billion bill, but liberal Democrats and some anti-poverty advocates are balking at a $2 billion future cut in food stamps to pay for the bill. http://bit.ly/8ZbmLa

Late last week, the Society for Nutrition Education wrote to House Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (D-Calif.) to defend the reauthorization as a key tool to fight childhood obesity - the goal espoused by First Lady Michelle Obama in her Let’s Move campaign.

“We strongly encourage the House to take action this week to pass this important legislation,” reads the letter. “Not only will this bill increase access, it will improve the quality of meals in schools, set the stage for strong standards so that soda and candy are not readily available to school children in vending machines and schools stores, and, it will give local school agencies more tools and resources to strengthen school wellness policies to improve physical activity and nutrition education.”

Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, argues that the bill does not cut but rather sunsets a temporary increase in the food stamp program five months earlier than anticipated (in October 2003 instead of March 2004). She points out that Democrats already advanced the sunset date by an entire three years to pay for state Medicaid aid in August.

“With the September 30 deadline quickly approaching, the House of Representatives is running out of time to pass child nutrition legislation and improve the health and well-being of our nation’s children,” she told The Hill over the weekend. “If Congress resorts to an extension for the programs, important advances for child nutrition may be lost for good. Our kids simply can’t wait.”

HHS updates guidance on children’s policies: The Department of Health and Human Services has updated its guidance on regulations governing children’s policies after several health plans announced they would no longer sell new policies because the health reform law bans them from turning down children with pre-existing conditions. Regulations already allow open enrollment periods, in compliance with state law, to prevent families from waiting until children are sick before enrolling them but HHS clarified Friday that it may adopt a nationwide policy. http://bit.ly/91zBmn

“To require a uniform open enrollment period for child-only policies would require a change in the existing regulations,” reads the updated guidance. “The Administration would consider making such a change if it would result in issuers continuing to sell child-only plans.”

The new guidance also clarifies that the following actions are not precluded by existing regulations:

Adjusting rates for health status only as permitted by State law;
Permitting child-only rates to be different from rates for dependent children, consistent with State law;
Imposing a surcharge for dropping coverage and subsequently reapplying if permitted by State law;
Instituting rules to help prevent dumping by employers to the extent permitted by State law;
Closing the block of business for current child-only policies if permitted by State law; and
Selling child-only policies that are self-sustaining and separate from closed child-only books of business if permitted by State law.

The guidance also states that the administration “would welcome” legislation being considered by some states requiring individual-market issuers that offer family coverage to also offer child-only policies.

Regulatory free-for-all: Insurance plans, patient advocates and the health industry will be preparing their comments throughout the week after having had time to digest the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) draft medical loss ratio regulations. The healthcare reform law mandates that health plans spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care (85 percent in the large-group market) and the state insurance commissioners are tasked with ironing out the details. Comments are due by Oct. 4.

The big questions: Will the insurance industry get some flexibility towards allowing aggregated ratio and counting fraud prevention and utilization review as medical expenses? Will House and Senate Democrats get the commissioners to change their minds and deduct only healthcare taxes when calculating the ratio? http://bit.ly/bV9qjD

Phase-in requested: Even as the health sector weighs in on state commissioners, the NAIC itself is trying to persuade federal regulators to allow a phase-in period for the individual market. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty held an evidentiary hearing Friday to help make the case for a phase-in by gathering oral and written testimony and affidavits from insurance companies as to how the medical loss ratio requirement would disrupt the market. http://bit.ly/clCdmG

Here to explain it all: Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) invites Brian Webb of the NAIC and Janet Trautwein of the National Association of Health Underwriters (the industry group for insurance agents and brokers) to explain the medical loss ratio during Tuesday’s meeting of his Health Care Caucus. http://bit.ly/dy1JAf

White House strategy: Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to try to sell the health reform law ahead of the mid-term elections. Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be in Henderson, Nev. promoting the law along with the state’s two Democratic House members, Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley. http://bit.ly/c6K3cY

Titus, a first-term lawmaker, is running neck-and-neck with Republican challenger Joe Heck in the race for Nevada’s 3rd District seat. http://bit.ly/bhLsia. Health reform is becoming a major factor less than six weeks before the election, with Heck calling for repeal of the law (http://bit.ly/d2MvpI) and Titus taking to her campaign Web site to defend health reform’s consumer protections and deficit reduction (http://bit.ly/cOSuW2).

The race for the U.S. seat, meanwhile, is still a toss-up between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) and Sharron Angle (R). http://bit.ly/9pcp5Q

In other polling news: Voters who say the new health reform law was too conservative outnumber by 2 to 1 those supporting repeal, according to a poll released Saturday. About 40 percent of respondents said the law was too timid in overhauling the nation’s healthcare system, while 20 percent said they’d like to see it scrapped, according to the survey, commissioned by the Associated Press. http://bit.ly/czR9Yc

Administration’s response on antibiotics anticipated: Two senior Democrats are expecting answers from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack after controversial comments regarding efforts to restrict the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) say Vilsack mischaracterized both their legislation and the position of his own department in comments he made about one of their bills to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. http://bit.ly/c07eut

Fight over Medicare Advantage heats up: A quartet of Senate Republicans is calling on Medicare’s top accountant to release the numbers behind his analysis of health reform’s impact on the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. The lawmakers — Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) — say the steep cuts to MA under the new reform law will cause many plans to fold, while many others will be forced to drop benefits to remain profitable. http://bit.ly/aCKcjK

College health plans under scrutiny: Many college health plans not only offer paltry coverage, reports the Wall Street Journal, but also managed to avoid many of the new regulations of the healthcare reform law - perhaps even permanently. http://bit.ly/dw0QiG

September 27 Voltaggio Brothers Team for Cause

THIS TIME, THEY’RE NOT COMPETING AGAINST EACH OTHER. INSTEAD, THEY’RE TEAMING UP TO HELP RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT HUNGER AND NUTRITION DURING A CHARITY DINNER WITH PROCEEDS GOING TO SHARE OUR STRENGTH, A NATIONAL ORGANIZATION THAT AIMS TO ELIMINATE CHILDHOOD HUNGER.

Politico
September 24, 2010

The Voltaggio brothers, Bryan and Michael of “Top Chef” fame, will enter the kitchen together on Tuesday for the first time in a while. They’ll be at Bryan’s Frederick, Md., restaurant VOLT to prepare an eight-course meal with wine pairings.

This time, they’re not competing against each other. Instead, they’re teaming up to help raise awareness about hunger and nutrition during a charity dinner with proceeds going to Share Our Strength, a national organization that aims to eliminate childhood hunger.

It’s a cause that’s close to both brothers’ hearts.

“With the recent recession, it’s only getting tougher for families to feed their children. As a chef, it makes it really difficult,” Bryan told POLITICO. “I have people come in everyday and have these elaborate dinners, but then you know that there are children out there who won’t get enough nutrition to get through the day.”

About one in four children in the nation is at risk of hunger, according to Courtney Smith, the No Kid Hungry program director for Share our Strength.

“From more recent poverty and unemployment data coming out, that number may be significantly higher,” Smith said.

Michael, who is based on the West Coast and is set to open a restaurant there early next year, said that he initially got involved with the group because, well, his brother did. But when he heard about these stats, he said his commitment strengthened.

“It actually brought tears to my eyes. And it became bigger than a rivalry with my brother,” he said. Still, Michael may have one-upped his brother on the dedication front. Earlier this year, he tattooed Share Our Strength’s logo (an apple with a bite out of either side that forms the silhouettes of children’s faces) onto his leg. That too was an act of charity; an L.A. tattoo artist volunteered his time and created Michael’s ink on a picnic table in the back of catering hall.

“They feed people for a living; this is their commitment, their passion, their lives,” Debbie Shore, co-founder of Share Our Strength, said of the brothers. “They’re a terrific example of when chefs care about something as compelling as kids going hungry, they really put their full commitment into it.”

Both Bryan and Michael tip their hats to their mother, a single mom who worked full-time, for teaching them good nutrition and making sure that they always had a family meal together.

“Our mother is not an avant garde chef, but she always put dinner on the table every night. The expectation is that you were at the dinner table at dinner time. Now, it’s a lot easier to just grab something and throw it at your kids and say, ‘Come on we’ve got to get to basketball practice,’” Michael said. “Even families that have the resources to feed their kids nutritious meals don’t always because it’s easier to find something fast.”

Their mother, in fact, will be honored at Tuesday night’s meal. She’ll be hosting a table in a private room.

“She’s the typical mother. She’s like ‘Oh my God, what am I going to wear?’,” Bryan said. “She’s excited. She’s proud of both of us. And we thought there would be nobody better to give guests a sense of where we came from.”

The menu for Tuesday night is still in the works, making the sommeliers nervous, Bryan said. But it will be very true to their contemporary styles with a focus on local ingredients.

September 24 Children join fight against hunger, obesity

SEVENTEEN MILLION U.S. HOUSEHOLDS, OR 14 PERCENT, COULD NOT CONSISTENTLY PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE IN 2008, THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN A DECADE, ACCORDING TO THE MOST RECENT DATA FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 22, 2010

Under a hot sun, little Zoe Welch, Brandon Myles and Rayquan Rivens pluck cauliflower and lettuce from small black containers and plant them in the black earth.

When they and their cohorts at the Browns Mill Recreation Center in Lithonia are done, they will have completed a 25-by-25-foot community garden, one of six that Weight Watchers and Share Our Strength are planting in U.S. communities to fight the epidemics of childhood hunger and obesity.

Seventeen million U.S. households, or 14 percent, could not consistently put food on the table in 2008, the highest level in a decade, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The use of food stamps is at an all-time high, and so is the percentage of children receiving free or reduced-price school meals, which rose from 59.3 percent in 2007 to 62.5 percent in 2009.

In Georgia, one in four children doesn’t know where his next meal will come from, said Allison Palestrini, the Atlanta director of Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to end childhood hunger in the U.S.

The gardens are part of a national campaign called Lose for Good that the two groups hope will inspire people to achieve healthy weight loss while helping others in need.

The campaign, which runs through Oct. 23, kicked off locally Wednesday at Browns Mill.

During the campaign, Weight Watchers will donate up to $1 million to two organizations that help feed children and families: Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger. Since the annual campaign’s inception in 2008, participants have lost more than 8 million pounds, and Weight Watchers’ has raised about $2 million and gathered 3.5 million pounds of food for local food banks, including 50,000 pounds in metro Atlanta.

Georgia’s children rank among the heaviest in the country, with about 37 percent of those ages 10 to 17 overweight or obese, according to a 2009 Robert Wood Johnson study. Nationally, the obesity rate for children has tripled since the 1980s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Children in Browns Mill’s after-school program planted vegetables and herbs such as lettuce, collards and parsley. Members of Girl Scout Troop 4105, which is based at the center, will maintain the garden.

The center received two grants worth a total of $500 to plant and sustain the garden, said Emily Lauer-Bader, manager of corporate partnerships for Share Our Strength.

“If we’re going to subdue this epidemic,” Lauer-Bader said, “we have to make sure children not only have access to food, but healthy, nutritious foods.”

September 23 Great American Dine Out, Sept 19-25

SHARE OUR STRENGTH, A NATION-WIDE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO ENDING CHILDHOOD HUNGER, IS TEAMING UP WITH RESTAURANTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO RAISE AWARENESS OF (AND RAISE FUNDS FOR ) KIDS WHO SIMPLY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT ON ANY GIVEN DAY.

Colorado Springs Cheap Eats Examiner
September 22, 2010

This week, dine out. And make NO KID HUNGRY happen. Share our Strength, a nation-wide non-profit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger, is teaming up with restaurants all over the country to raise awareness of (and raise funds for) kids who simply don’t have enough to eat on any given day. If you choose one (click to see options or to choose places in other states) of the restaurants participating in Colorado, you’ll get a great meal and help our children eat well and grow strong. Thousands of restaurants are offering super promotions, featuring special dishes, and donating part of their proceeds from this week to help support the work to end childhood hunger.

“Nearly 17 million&mdashalmost one in four&mdashchildren in America face hunger. These children will endure lifelong consequences as a result of having limited access to nutritious foods. In fact, they’re more likely to suffer poorer health, fatigue, hospitalizations, behavioral difficulties and impaired performance at school. … Despite the good efforts of governments, private-sector institutions and everyday Americans, millions of our children still don’t have daily access to the nutritious meals they need to live active, healthy lives.”

There are 69 participating restaurants in Colorado, but locally you might choose from:

Fazoli’s
Boston Market
TGI Friday’s
Joe’s Crab Shack
Buffalo Wild Wings
PF Chang’s
Elephant Bar and Grill

If your favorite feeding trough isn’t listed, talk to them and get them involved for the next go-round.

For more info or to see how else you can help, click on:

Share our Strength

Share our Strength raises funds through their pioneering culinary events (Share our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, Great American Dine Out, As Tasteful Pursuit, and Great American Bake Sale) and award grants to support successful organizations across the country that work to provide children and their families with the healthy food they need. Since their inception in 1984, they have raised over $265 million and provided support to more than 1,000 of the most effective hunger-relief organizations around the globe. Click on the link above to get involved with a Share our Strength event. It’s as easy as having a bake sale.

September 21 Child Nutrition: Silence in Response to 44 Million Americans Below the Poverty Line

HERE’S A PHILOSOPHICAL VARIATION OF THE “IF A TREE FALLS IN A FOREST” QUESTION FOR YOU: IF 44 MILLION AMERICANS FALL BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, AND NO ONE HEARS IT, DO THEY MAKE A SOUND?

The Huffington Post
September 20, 2010

Here’s a philosophical variation of the “if a tree falls in a forest” question for you: if 44 million Americans fall below the poverty line, and no one hears it, do they make any sound?

Over the weekend the Washington Post published an article about how little reaction had been expressed over the shocking new statistics showing that 44 million Americans now live in poverty. One in five children are so classified. It is a level of economic suffering unseen in nearly 50 years. Yet it has been greeted mostly with silence from policymakers in both the Administration and Congress. Is anyone calling for bipartisan summit meetings like when the banks were in trouble? Emergency sessions of Congress or the Council of Economic Advisers? Don’t hold your breath.

At one point the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation embodied the hopes for a robustly-funded major assault on hunger in keeping with President Obama’s pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015.

But as deficit concerns became the priority in Congress there have been cuts of billions of dollars of future Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to offset spending for other needs like aid to states to keep teachers and state employees in their jobs and even to fund portions of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization as happened with the Senate-passed bill.

This experience reinforced a couple of age-old lessons about power in Washington:

First, the vulnerable and most voiceless are always at risk, even at the hands of those elected to represent them, perhaps especially at the hands of those elected to represent them. As Congressman Jim McDermott told the Washington Post: “For most elected officials, there is nothing politically in talking about the poor. In fact, they don’t vote very well and they are not very participatory in political life. Politicians tend to talk to people who get involved.”

Politicians seek the path of least resistance and cutting SNAP benefits was perceived as a politically safe choice. Teachers and state employees, who were able to protect their funding, have unions, PACS, access, and political power. So does corporate agriculture and the livestock industry. Hungry children do not. As our champion Rep. Jim McGovern often reminds us, hunger is a political condition.

Second: you can’t fight something with nothing. Everyone kept waiting for someone else to propose offsets. The advocates said the Administration should propose. The White House and Ag Department said that was Congress’ job. No one did. Except the special interests.

Notice the course taken by those who didn’t want to see their programs cut, like the livestock industry that opposed cuts in a farm conservation program that had been designated to pay for increases in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. They had no problem suggesting where alternative cuts might come from: SNAP. Instead of merely crying “unconscionable” and urging their supporters to “oppose any cuts” they pointed their finger to a very specific target.

Those who are most voiceless need advocates to project a stronger voice and propose specific alternatives to ensure robustly funded anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.

September 21 Child Nutrition: Silence in Response to 44 Million Americans Below the Poverty Line

HERE’S A PHILOSOPHICAL VARIATION OF THE “IF A TREE FALLS IN A FOREST” QUESTION FOR YOU: IF 44 MILLION AMERICANS FALL BELOW THE POVERTY LINE, AND NO ONE HEARS IT, DO THEY MAKE A SOUND?

The Huffington Post
September 20, 2010

Here’s a philosophical variation of the “if a tree falls in a forest” question for you: if 44 million Americans fall below the poverty line, and no one hears it, do they make any sound?

This experience reinforced a couple of age-old lessons about power in Washington:

Those who are most voiceless need advocates to project a stronger voice and propose specific alternatives to ensure robustly funded anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.

September 17 Hellmann's Back to School Mealtime Solutions 101

“… it’s so sad and unbelievably unnecessary for children in this country to go hungry, when we have such an overabundance of food and resources with which to feed them.”

Feisty Foodie
September 15, 2010

Yesterday, Yvo and I attended a presentation “Hellmann’s Back to School Mealtime Solutions 101” with Bobby Flay and Lori Loughlin aka Aunt Becky from Full House. The presentation was in a loft in the Fashion District, so I was able to take a bit of a longer lunch to attend. It was also nice to see some old friends and new there including Esther from Ambitiious Deliciousness, Cindy from Chubby Chinese Girl, and Andrea from High Low Food Drink. In addition to a presentation on a couple of quick and easy lunches, we were also told of Hellmann’s partnership with Share Our Strength. Check out their Facebook page for an opportunity to build your own virtual sandwich to help donate to such a worth cause.

Yvo says: I arrived a few minutes late, but luckily TT was sitting next to Esther in the front row on the right side and had thoughtfully saved me a seat - his own. Yep, he gave up his front row seat to me - what a gentleman! - but unfortunately, this meant, with the picnic bench-style seating, as I sat down, I inadvertently mooned him (sorry!) because of this trend called low rise jeans…

I hadn’t missed anything, as it didn’t start for another few minutes. Cater waiters milled around, passing out glasses of water - sparkling and flat - with a twist (lime for sparkling, lemon for flat). Indeed it was a “lunch” event, but a comment by Bobby Flay later made me wonder if Hellmann’s is a dry company? He commented that cucumber water makes for great cocktails, and amended “Hellmann’s is going to hate me for saying that” - not entirely sure if that’s because it was unrelated to the product, or because they don’t drink. Either way is fine! I was honestly happy that there was an abundance of water being served- too often at these events, I wind up drinking sugary soda because it’s alcohol… or soda.

Bobby and Lori soon began the demonstration, after a bit of banter. They were very easy together, which was nice to see - I’d always viewed Bobby as kind of an arrogant jerk, based on his attitude on television - but he seemed relaxed and easygoing in person. Lori admitted that she’d never given a live food demo before, which didn’t really show - I guess all that time on television really makes getting up in front of people easy - except for her heavy hand with the mayo, and um, a salt incident that left the demonstrated fake-tzatziki too salty (we didn’t eat those).

Bobby and Lori made three dishes with two different kinds of mayo. This was actually Lori’s first time presenting as a spokesman for Hellmann’s, AND her first live food demonstration. She did a pretty good job! I guess she did a good job of hiding her fear of the crazy bloggers in attendence.

First up was a take on a Chicken Gyro on a whole wheat pita. They used the Hellmann’s Light to make a play on the traditional Greek Tzatziki sauce. I was pretty impressed with Bobby’s knife skills in that he was able to chop and talk to us at the same time. He has been “performing” for years, so I guess all it takes is a lot of practice. As they were wrapping up the dish, we were all given some small bites that were made ahead of time. They were prepared open faced, which I am not a fan of. It is too hard to eat unless you put the whole thing in your mouth at once. I thought it was tasty and a good way to kick up the flavor on traditional mayo.

Yvo says: They used light Hellmann’s. I have to say, I actually do like and use Hellman’s at home and switched to light a while back because it tastes the same. Maybe I don’t use enough to actually taste the difference, but if you’re eating either by the spoonful, then you have other problems that half-fat and half-calories isn’t going to help. What went into the faked-tzatziki - mayo, shredded/drained cucumber, garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice, and too much salt. Bobby didn’t let her forget about the salt the rest of the day, haha.

Next was Bobby’s take on egg salad. They mixed the regular mayo with Dijon mustard with the chopped hard-boiled egg, sprinkled turkey bacon pieces, green onion and placed on a slice of tomato on top of cheese-covered English muffin. I hate egg salad! I never eat the stuff. I ate this though, mostly cause I was really hungry since it was lunch time. It was actually very good. It was another open-faced “sandwich.”

Yvo says: I really liked how crunchy and cheesy the bottom round (toasted whole wheat English muffin - I may start buying these now) was on the open faced egg salad sandwich, but it was piled way too high. Each bite I took left me with egg on my face- literally! Otherwise, it tasted fine, but there was a lot going on, so each flavor really had to fight its way out.

Finally, there was a version of tuna salad in a tortilla chip cup. This was a miss on all areas. It was just gloopy, dressed up mayo, with a bit of canned tuna in it. I am glad we only got one little taste of this.

Yvo says: fish taco: I loved the concept of this, but I don’t think there was any tuna in my bite (pictured). I mean, it was just glop on a Tostito scoop. I will use this conceptually, and use good, large-flaked fish myself instead of canned tuna - which Bobby mentioned doing a few times - but the execution here was pretty terrible. I don’t think that was his fault - I think for accessibility, they made the recipe canned tuna, but all of us in the audience were almost certainly thinking that a nice white fish would have made for much better faked-tacos.

Interestingly enough - and not to complain about a free event, just think this is interesting - we were literally served one small piece of each. Which meant most of us left still hungry (a bunch of us wandered over to K-town to get some real food in us). One girl was determined not to go home hungry - she raised her hand to ask Bobby if there was anything vegetarian, because she was a vegetarian. I thought he handled the question with great diplomacy; he whipped up another egg salad sandwich (the other one had turkey bacon in it) for her, and delivered it to her himself. I don’t blame her for not wanting to go home hungry, but we all did, vegetarian or not, sadly…

All in all, a good event with some really fascinating information disseminated - Hellmann’s partnership with Share Our Strength, an incredibly important charity dedicated to making sure no child goes hungry; their nifty website to create and swap virtual sandwiches… all good stuff. I also thought it was really interesting that their light mayo is made with cage-free eggs, but didn’t get a chance to ask when the full-fat mayo will go in that direction as well.

A sad moment that hopefully will encourage you all to go [create/share/swap virtual sandwiches] (each sandwich made = a donation from Hellmann’s)… the guy from SOS (whose name I forget, sorry!) told us about a program in the South during the summer where children get lunch for free. One child asked if they could put mayo on only one side of his sandwich. I started smiling here, thinking how cute it was that a little kid would be so specific about his sandwich, but the SOS guy continued, “because I save one slice of bread, that’s my dinner.” I literally teared up and had to pretend something was in my eye… it’s so sad and unbelievably unnecessary for children in this country to go hungry, when we have such an overabundance of food and resources with which to feed them.

After the presentation, Bobby & Lori were kind enough to pose for pictures with each of us. Of course, I passed, but Yvo took one for the team.

On the way out, we were given quite the hefty swag bag. It had a copy of Bobby’s Mesa Grill cookbook, a teak cutting board, plastic sandwich holder, a set of 4 tapas plates, a 4gb thumb drive, 2 knife spreaders, the Hellman’s lunch box, and obviously a jar of Hellmann’s mayo. I know I shouldn’t look gifthorses in the mouth, but I would have preferred the low-fat version. It tastes just as good as the original, but is a lot healthier.

Thank you to Bobby and Lori for the entertaining presentation. I would also like to thank Meg for the invites.

September 15 Breakfast in Class: Fight Against Kids' Hunger Starts at School

CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL IN PUEBLO, COLO., HAS STARTED SERVING BREAKFAST IN CLASS EVERY MORNING SO THAT ALL KIDS EAT. THE INITIATIVE IS FUNDED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE’S SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM

USA Today
by Martha Moore
September 14, 2010

PUEBLO, Colo. — At 8:28 a.m., the cafeteria ladies of Centennial High School take up positions in the second-floor hallway, just outside closed classroom doors. Each woman is pushing a cart loaded with milk, juice, whole-wheat doughnuts and individual packages of Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms cereal.

When science teacher Sue Aronofsky opens the door of her classroom, kids stream into the hallway. “You go around, you get your stuff, and you tell the lady thank you,” she says.

Students eat at their desks as announcements drone from the public-address system. After a brief pause to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag and toss empty milk cartons, Aronofsky’s freshmen turn to examining pill bugs under magnifying glasses. Time: 8:45 a.m.

The same scene occurs all over the 1,034-student school. Last year, when Centennial served free breakfast in the cafeteria each morning before the start of classes, fewer than 100 students showed up to eat daily. On this morning four days into the new year, with breakfast delivered to classrooms, 864 students have been fed.

That many children eating school breakfast is rare. Although the number of hungry children in the U.S. is rising, fewer than half of the kids who could be eating a free or low-cost breakfast at school are getting one.

In Pueblo, school officials take a counterintuitive approach: They offer free breakfast to all children regardless of income, so no one is embarrassed to be eating it. In most schools here, breakfast is served right in the classrooms. As a result, 76% of Pueblo’s needy kids eat school breakfast. That’s more than any state and almost every big city, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), which tracks participation in school meal programs.

Now, states such as Colorado and Florida, anti-hunger groups and congressional lawmakers from both parties are pushing schools to follow programs such as Centennial’s—an effort not only to improve students’ performance in school but to combat rising hunger in tough economic times.

The number of U.S. households that can’t consistently put food on the table rose to 17 million, or 14.6%, in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the highest level in a decade. The use of food stamps is at an all-time high, and so is the percentage of children receiving free or reduced-price school meals, which rose from 59.3% in 2007 to 62.5% in 2009.

The low number of needy kids eating breakfast at school “is a tremendous concern,” says Gary Davis, founder of the Got Breakfast? Foundation, which gives schools grants to increase breakfast participation. “It’s a message that really has to be heard: that there’s just a simple way that we can improve our society.”

The cost of school breakfast for needy kids, such as the cost of their lunches, is eligible for federal reimbursement. Most U.S. schools — 86% — offer it. But of the nearly 19 million children who eat a free or reduced-price lunch at school, only 8.8 million also come for breakfast, according to FRAC.

Efforts to change this are underway:

Colorado, where only 39% of needy kids eat a school breakfast, Democratic Gov. Bob Ritter launched an effort in July to get school districts to increase participation in breakfast with the help of Share Our Strength, a national advocacy group that fights childhood hunger.
In Florida, a new law this year requires free breakfast in all schools where 80% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
In Congress, renewal of the Child Nutrition Act would allow start-up grants for universal free breakfast programs. The bill also would make it easier for high-need schools to serve universal meals by allowing more ways for schools to make kids eligible for free and low-cost meals. The renewal, postponed from 2009, passed the Senate in August with $4.5 billion in increased funding. A version with $8 billion in additional funding awaits action in the House. The current law expires Sept. 30.

“There are just a lot of kids whose families are not going to be able to supply all their meals for them,” says Bill Shore, co-founder of Share Our Strength. “The impact (on hunger) of adding 50,000 kids to the school breakfast program dwarfs anything else we could do.”

‘It’s the right thing to do’

In Pueblo — a city of 103,000 that is 104 miles south of Denver — 72% of schoolchildren qualify for free and reduced-price meals. Under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, a family of four with an annual income of less than $40,793 can receive school meals at a reduced price of no more than 30 cents. A family of four with income less than $28,665 is eligible for free school meals.

But in Pueblo, breakfast is served free to everyone in all 38 schools. In 24 schools, children are served breakfast in the classroom or, if the food carts can’t be hauled upstairs, kids grab breakfast at the front door on their way to class.

Jill Kidd, Pueblo’s nutrition services director, started serving breakfast in class in 1998 in four of the district’s poorest schools, and she has been expanding the classroom breakfast program ever since.

“It’s simple,” she says. “And it’s the right thing to do for kids.”

Pueblo serves a burrito, French toast or other hot breakfast four times a week, and offers cereal every day, including an unsweetened variety such as Cheerios. (Centennial students got only sweet cereals the first week this school year because adding the school to the in-class breakfast program initially stretched district supplies, Kidd says.) Cheyenne Roque, 15, a freshman at Centennial, grabbed the high-fiber doughnut from the breakfast cart. Her mother works at a craft supply store and her dad at a discount store. The family includes three kids, her grandmother and uncle. Food stamps help the family make it through the month, but school breakfast and lunch make the groceries at home go further.

“That’s why we have more food at home, because we eat breakfast and lunch at school,” she says.

Removing the stigma

Getting more kids to eat breakfast at school is key to achieving President Obama’s campaign pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015, according to groups such as Share Our Strength and Feeding America, a food bank network. The best way to do so, they say, is with a program like Centennial’s that feeds rich and poor kids alike.

In a 2001 U.S. Department of Agriculture pilot program in 79 schools, offering free breakfast to all kids in the cafeteria increased the number of students who ate breakfast in school from 19% to 28%. At schools that served free breakfast in the classroom, participation rose to 65%.

Feeding free breakfast to students who can afford to pay avoids the stigma for students who can’t but don’t want everyone to know. Serving breakfast in class means kids don’t have to get there early to be fed, Kidd and other school nutrition directors say. Bus schedules, parents’ work schedules, and, for high school students, the desire to sleep as late as possible make getting to school early for breakfast difficult.

Andrea Ayala, 28, an unemployed single mom of four, grew up in Pueblo eating breakfast at school when it was for poor kids only. She and her four siblings “always had to go to the cafeteria and be there before school. … My mom made us,” Ayala says.

Now her four kids eat breakfast at school along with everyone else, she says: “They see everybody else getting what they’re getting.”

Feeding more children breakfast is an easy pitch to budget-squeezed school districts because if enough of their kids are eligible for low- or no-cost meals, federal reimbursement can cover the cost of the entire program. The more breakfasts they serve, the more federal reimbursement they get and the greater economy of scale they enjoy. The USDA spent $12.7 billion on school breakfast and lunch last year. Reimbursement to schools for breakfast range from 26 cents for a child who pays full price to $1.74 for a free breakfast in a high-poverty school.

More than half of all students in Pueblo eat breakfast at school. The program pays for itself and doesn’t require any money from the district, Kidd says.

“We aren’t asking taxpayers to feed every kid a free breakfast at school,” says Courtney Smith, director of Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry program. “We are saying that in very high-need areas, a way to effectively provide breakfast at school is through a universal breakfast program.”

Part of an education

In Pueblo, Kidd has converted schools to free in-class breakfast one principal at a time. Administrative reluctance is typically the biggest obstacle to classroom breakfast, its proponents say.

Since the federal No Child Left Behind law made performance on state tests critical to schools, the pressure to maximize class time is intense. “As a principal, you have to guard instruction time,” says Tharyn Mulberry, Centennial’s principal. When he first mentioned classroom breakfast, his faculty “did not like it,” he says. “They did not want the disruption of it.”

First, Kidd arranged to serve breakfast in class last year on the days when Centennial students took the all-important state assessment tests. Then she told Mulberry, “If it’s good for test days, it’s good for every day.”

Studies indicate that children learn better when they aren’t hungry. Kids who eat breakfast right before taking tests score higher than kids who ate hours before. Results of pilot programs in the city of Milwaukee, statewide in Maryland and elsewhere show that serving breakfast in class results in less tardiness, less disruptive behavior and fewer visits to the nurse.

“We’re a little obsessive about it at this point,” Kidd says. She has pitched one principal on the idea of in-class breakfast so many times — without success — “if I mention it again, he’s going to kill me.”

At Park View Elementary, on Pueblo’s east side, where all 418 students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, breakfast is served only in the cafeteria, not the classroom.

“I don’t feel that that truly is the best use of the instruction part of the day,” Principal Shiela Perez says. “By the time that it’s been delivered, by the time they’ve been given the opportunity to eat and everything’s been cleared up, that can drag out … into 45 minutes of the day.”

Instead, children must arrive by 7:40 a.m. to eat, 20 minutes before class begins. A little more than one-third of the students — 37% — eat breakfast at school. “If they walk in at 7:55 they’re not going to get turned away,” Perez says. “We’re just trying to encourage them to get here.”

Like it or not, making sure children get fed has become central to schools’ mission.

Feeding hungry kids “is a given. We’re in many cases the biggest social support for our children,” says Stephanie Garcia, president of the Pueblo school board. “This is a necessary part of the educational process.”

For Kidd, the next step in helping hungry children is to move beyond the school day. Like other schools, Pueblo has a program that sends bags of food home with needy kids on Friday to get them through the weekend.

Kidd would like to add an after-school supper program, and start farmers markets at schools located in “food deserts,” neighborhoods without food stores.

She is also now in charge of the 10% of Pueblo students who are homeless. It’s a job Kidd feels highlights the difference a school can make in a kid’s life, especially if it comes with decent meals.

“We’re the safe time in their day. We’re the good time in their day,” she says. “If we can feed them and love them, maybe we can make the other 16 hours more tolerable.”

September 10 First Lady Michelle Obama Brings Lets Move to New Orleans, Launches Phase 2 of Campaign

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA VISITED NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA ON WEDNESDAY TO PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE EFFORTS OF HER LET’S MOVE! CAMPAIGN, WITH TWO MAJOR EVENTS.

Obama Foodorama
by Eddie Gehman Kohan
September 8, 2010

First Lady announces new benchmarks and goals; an expanded partnership with NFL; calls on House to pass child nutrition legislation by end of September…and pledges to win President’s Active Lifestyle Award.
President Obama proclaimed September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness month, and First Lady Michelle Obama visited New Orleans, Louisiana on Wednesday to put the spotlight on the efforts of her Let’s Move! campaign, with two major events. In the morning, Mrs. Obama gave a back-to-school speech at Brock Elementary School, detailing new goals and benchmarks for phase II of the campaign, and calling on the House of Representatives to pass pending Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation before the end of September. She also announced her own very public participation in a new fitness project.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Obama joined an NFL event in downtown New Orleans to announce a new co-campaign with the league. She was accompanied by commissioner Roger Goodell, Colts coach Tony Dungy, country singing star Taylor Swift, and NFL players and coaches for football drills with about 100 local school kids. At both events, Mrs. Obama wooed participants to her campaign, promising that some of those who meet the new Let’s Move! goals will be invited to the White House for celebratory parties.

During her remarks at Glynn H. Brock Elementary School in Slidell, about a half hour from downtown New Orleans, Mrs. Obama called the past year just “a start” in her efforts to end childhood obesity in a generation.

“We’ve gotten off to a pretty good start. But what we’ve done so far is just that — it’s a start,” Mrs. Obama said. “So the key now, in this next phase of “Let’s Move,” is to get results. We have to ensure that our efforts are actually making our kids healthier.”

Brock was selected for Mrs. Obama’s visit because it is part of the St. Tammany Parish school system, which has 25 of the nation’s 59 schools that are currently gold-award winners in the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC), a USDA program rewards schools for fulfilling designated requirements for higher standards for foods, for providing nutrition information, and for offering physical education opportunities. Despite the fact that Brock was virtually destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, with students attending classes in modular trailers until December of 2008, it is among those achieving gold level status, the highest level of distinction.

“This program has spurred schools all across the country to raise their standards and transform their classrooms and cafeterias into healthy eating and learning labs for their students,” Mrs. Obama said. She was surrounded on stage by teachers, staff and school officials during her remarks; usually Mrs. Obama is surrounded by children wearing Let’s Move! t-shirts during public events, but this time, she was circled by those who are critical to putting her campaign goals into action.

Goal: Doubling the number of schools in the HealthierUS School Challenge
The First Lady praised Brock officials and teachers for their success and creativity, and pointed out that if a school that was destroyed by a hurricane can achieve excellence in fitness and nutrition initiatives, there’s no excuse for other schools to not participate.

“All of you are setting the standard for schools and school districts all across this country,” Mrs. Obama said, to cheers and applause. “I hear that students here participate in food tasting parties and work with their Cafeteria Manager to teach their peers about healthy eating. I’m told there’s even a jump rope club, which I may have to join.”

To date, USDA has made 797 HUSSC awards to schools, and part of the next phase of Let’s Move is getting more schools to join the challenge, Mrs. Obama said.

“We’ve set a goal of doubling - doubling - the number of schools that participate in the Healthier US Schools Challenge by June of 2011,” Mrs. Obama said. “And we want to add an additional one thousand schools in each of the following two years as well.”

Goal: Making participation easy…and rewards for those who succeed
To meet those goals, it’s now far easier for schools to enroll in the challenge, Mrs. Obama announced. The application process will be moved online, and school districts can apply for all of their schools to participate in the program with a single application. There’s no cap on the number of schools that can participate, and Mrs. Obama said she hopes schools will encourage other schools to join, too. Schools receive cash incentives for each level of achievement in the program, which will be used to fund health initiatives, and Mrs. Obama announced an extra -special carrot for schools that meet the challenge.

“We’re making that victory just a little bit sweeter, with new cash rewards,” she said. “And I’ll be inviting representatives from each award-winning school to a reception in their honor at the White House.”

The Chefs Move To Schools Toolkit
Mrs. Obama also noted that USDA will be providing better technical assistance through experts’ in-person support to guide school administrators through the application process, and she cited the Chefs Move To Schools program as a part of the effort to ensure school success in HUSSC. Launched at the White House on June 4, the initiative pairs professional chefs with schools across the country. Mrs. Obama noted that there are now 1,800 chefs who have signed on, and 1,300 participating schools. An online toolkit will be released shortly, according to the White House. To date, Chefs participating in the program have received a letter from the White House, and there is a post on the Let’s Move! website that details questions participating chefs can ask their schools to determine how they can best be of service.

Goal: Expanding enrollment in federal nutrition programs, and Mrs. Obama’s call for Congressional action
Noting that “our schools are on the frontlines of our efforts to fight childhood obesity,” with 31 million children enrolled in the federal school lunch program, and 11 million enrolled in the breakfast program, Mrs. Obama announced a goal of adding more children to each.

“We’re working to increase participation in our school lunch program by two million eligible children, and to get another three million kids signed up to start receiving school breakfasts by 2015,” Mrs. Obama said. “Because I think we can all agree that no child in America should be starting school hungry each day.”

She urged House lawmakers to take action on the pending Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation.

“But I want to be clear—it’s important to be clear that we can’t do any of this unless we pass the Child Nutrition legislation that’s before Congress right now,” Mrs. Obama said. “The good news is that the Senate has already acted on this legislation. It is my great hope that the House of Representatives will do the same by the end of this month so that we can get this bill signed into law and start working on behalf of our kids. ”

In August, the Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act 2010 by unanimous consent, but the House failed to act, despite repeated urging from the First Lady, who also penned an op-ed for the Washington Post about the need for the legislation.

“This bipartisan legislation supports critically needed investments to help millions of children get the nourishment that they need to be healthy,” Mrs. Obama said.

Goal: Doubling the number of children who earn the President’s Active Lifestyle Award; First Lady will participate, too
But getting better foods into schools is only half the battle to end childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama said, noting that encouraging kids to be consistently physically active is critical. The campaign now has a new goal of doubling the number of kids who win the President’s Active Lifestyle Award. (Above: Mrs. Obama greeting audience members)

“To show everyone just how much fun it can be, I will be working to earn my Active Lifestyle Award,” Mrs. Obama announced. “In a couple weeks — I’m not sure when it’s going to start — starting soon, I’m going to be recording my progress online, so if I start falling behind, I want everyone to be checking on me and make sure that I’m not slacking.”

Mrs. Obama suggested that everyone—adults, too—work to achieve the award, which requires participants to perform regular physical activity beyond the daily activity goal of 30 minutes a day for adults/60 minutes a day for youths under 18, at least 5 days per week, for a total of 6 weeks.

“I want all you all to join me,” Mrs. Obama said. “Don’t just leave it on the kids. I want you all to join me.”

The First Lady closed her visit to Brock with a call for everyone in America to join the broader Let’s Move! campaign.

“I hope that in the coming months and years, all of you, and schools all across the country, will become even more involved in “Let’s Move,” Mrs. Obama said. “We’re going to make it interesting and exciting for kids. All we need you to do is hook them in…So it doesn’t take a lot, it just takes a little spark.”

Mrs. Obama announces expanded partnership with NFL; NFL pledges to help 200,000 kids achieve President’s award
After Mrs. Obama’s visit to Brock, she put words into action for the physical fitness component of Let’s Move!, trading her yellow dress for workout gear, during a visit to the NFL PLAY 60 Youth Football Festival in Woldenberg Park, on the riverfront in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The event was part of the NFL’s celebration to kick off the 2010 season, which begins tomorrow.

Joined by NFL Commissioner Goodell and Coach Dungy, as well as New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister, New England Patriots wide receiver Rodney Harrison, and Tampa Bay’s Derrick Brooks, Mrs. Obama announced that Let’s Move! and the NFL are boosting their concurrent campaigns to fight childhood obesity—and then she did football drills with about 100 local kids.

But first, Mrs. Obama had some words of advice for the kids.

“It’s not just enough that you exercise, but you also have to watch what you put in your body,” Mrs. Obama said. “You can’t live on soda and chips and all that. You can’t. Sorry. If you could, I tell you, I would. But you can’t. You’ve got to have vegetables and fruits.”

Goodell announced NFL’s pledge to help 200,000 kids achieve the President’s Active Lifestyle Award this year, so Mrs. Obama told the kids about her own participation.

“To show everyone how not hard it is, and how much fun it can be, I’m going to earn my award,” Mrs. Obama said. “Yeah, me, me. Don’t — what is the silence? What, you don’t think I can do this? I am going to be working towards my award starting in a couple of weeks — somewhere, soon.”

The kids then cheered. If they weren’t convinced Mrs. Obama would participate as she spoke, they were probably convinced when she started running footballs drills with them—especially because the temperature hovered around 90 degrees.

A White House party
Mrs. Obama also revealed another incentive to the kids.

“Now, this is news for the press, because we just talked about this, is that I want to host a big ol’ celebration at the White House for some of the kids who have won these awards,” Mrs. Obama said.

The White House will apparently be hosting a lot of parties in future, if Mrs. Obama’s plans are successful.

As part of the new NFL support for Let’s Move!, the NFL and the First Lady’s Office will develop and share co-branded content, which will include a public service announcement that will promote Let’s Move! and Fuel Up To Play 60, a joint program of the National Dairy Council and the NFL. The message will be produced in conjunction with the Ad Council and will debut in November.

In June, the First Lady introduced New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees as the 2010 co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Dominique Dawes is the other co-chair, and former New England Patriots football legend Tedy Bruschi was also named a member of the 2010 Council. Brees has been the national spokesman for NFL PLAY 60 campaign for the last three years. A video of Brees and President Obama playing touch football on the South Lawn last year is here.

Concurrent with the start of Phase II of Let’s Move!, USDA announced the Recipes For Healthy Kids Challenge, which offers $12,000 in prizes to school teams to create healthy recipes for school lunches. All the details on how teams can participate are here; entries close December 30, 2010.

Robin F. Schepper was named in August as the Executive Director for Let’s Move!, to ensure that outreach and events are working to achieve the goals of the campaign.

Louisiana now joins the other states Mrs. Obama has visited with the Let’s Move! campaign, which include Pennsylvania, Mississippi, California, Maryland, Nevada, and Missouri. The First Lady was last in New Orleans with President Obama on Sunday, August 29, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

September 8 Weight Watchers(R) Launches Third Annual Lose For Good(R) Campaign to Help Fight Obesity and Hunger

TODAY, THE COMPANY ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF THE THIRD ANNUAL LOSE FOR GOOD CAMPAIGN, AN INITIATIVE THAT FIGHTS HUNGER BOTH LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY BY INCREASING AWARENESS OF THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE AND HELPING TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOOD FOR THOSE IN NEED.

MarketWatch
September 7, 2010

For the past two years, Weight Watchers members have shown that they can improve their health while helping those in need. Today, the company announces the launch of the third annual Lose For Good campaign, an initiative that fights hunger both locally and globally by increasing awareness of this important issue and helping to provide access to healthy food for those in need. Between September 5th and October 23rd, as Weight Watchers members and Online subscribers lose weight and participate in other activities, the company will donate up to $1 million to two leading hunger fighting organizations - Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger. Through Lose For Good, Weight Watchers has donated more than $2 million to its charitable partners, and its members have donated over 3.5 million pounds of food to food banks nationwide.

“Almost one in four children in America faces hunger and will endure lifelong consequences as a result of having limited access to nutritious foods,” said Billy Shore, Founder and Executive Director of Share Our Strength. “Weight Watchers is an important ally in our fight to make sure no child in America grows up hungry. We’re thankful for their dedication to our mission and the generous support they provide through the Lose For Good campaign.”

“The Lose For Good campaign provides important support for our work to end hunger around the world,” said Nan Dale, Executive Director of Action Against Hunger’s U.S. headquarters. “As Americans strive to make healthier choices at home, this campaign offers a novel way for participants to help themselves while also helping save children suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.”

Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Jennifer Hudson is joining the effort and will take part in media appearances, as well as star in a national TV spot that encourages Americans to get healthy and give back. In September, Hudson will visit a New York City school as part of the campaign to help educate families on how to prepare healthy, low cost meals, while spreading the message that increasing access to healthy food is an important step in fighting both hunger and obesity.

“I am so proud to be a part of Lose For Good which encourages people to get healthy, something I’ve learned to do with the help of Weight Watchers, while at the same time giving back to those in need,” explained Hudson. “There are kids in our own country and abroad who are growing up hungry, and as a mom, this breaks my heart. That’s why I’m so happy to be involved in this campaign, where weight loss success can help others - it’s a win for everyone!”

“Obesity and hunger have become two sides of the same coin in many economically depressed areas, and I’m proud that through Lose For Good, Weight Watchers, its members and its partners can have a positive impact reversing this troubling situation,” said David Kirchhoff, President and CEO Weight Watchers International, Inc.

There are many ways to get involved and spread the message of Lose For Good:

Visit the Lose For Good website: www.weightwatchers.com/loseforgood

Success Walls: Online subscribers and Community users will be encouraged to build “Success Walls” constructed of collected food that represent their weight loss. They can then donate the food on or around October 23 (Donation Day) via an official Weight Watchers Meetup at a food bank or food drive by visiting www.meetup.com/weightwatchers.

Action Tuesdays: On six Tuesdays during the campaign, Weight Watchers eTools subscribers and Weight Watchers Online subscribers will be invited to participate in specific tasks, and for each task, Weight Watchers will donate $1 to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger (up to $5,000 per Tuesday as part of the larger corporate donation)

Lose-A-Palooza: A one-day social media event taking place on September 14th that will help further spread the Lose For Good message. Weight Watchers will donate $1 to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger for every accepted mention or acknowledgment of “Lose For Good” made on September 14th through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and check-ins via foursquare (up to $60,000 as part of the larger corporate donation)

Member Local Food Drives: Select Weight Watchers meeting locations will be holding local food drives throughout the duration of the campaign where members can donate food that will be given to local food banks.

September 7 Use Your Influence To End Childhood Hunger In America

WE’RE PUTTING TOGETHER AN ONLINE, GRASSROOTS ARMY OF PEOPLE TO HELP RAISE AWARENESS FOR SHARE OUR STRENGTH’S “GREAT AMERICAN DINE OUT”, SEPTEMBER 19-25.

Sexy Thinker
by Amanda Hite
September 3, 2010

We’re putting together an online, grassroots army of people to help raise awareness for Share Our Strength’s “Great American Dine Out”, September 19-25.

Nearly 17 million children in this country struggle with hunger. Share Our Strength’s “No Kid Hungry” campaign is ending childhood hunger in America by connecting at-risk children with the nutritious foods they need to live healthy, active lives.

The “Great American Dine Out,” September 19-25, will bring together thousands of restaurants and millions of consumers to help raise money for this important cause.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1) If you have a blog: Starting two weeks before the actual Dine Out, please blog to raise awareness for the “No Kid Hungry” campaign and about the “The Great American Dine Out”.

2) If you’re online at all: Use your presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to spread the word about “The Great American Dine Out” and ask your friends, family and networks to please dine out that week.

3) Join us on Twitter, September 20th from 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., for our “Tweet-a-Thon” to raise awareness for the campaign. Use and follow the hashtags #DineOut and #NoKidHungry.

All the details and information you need can be found here.

Watch Amanda Hite’s “Call to Action” video here »

September 1 Give Me Five Raises $50,000 for Atlanta's Share Our Strength

THE RECENT GIVE ME FIVE: FIVE CHEFS & FIVE SOMMELIERS DINNER RAISED $50,000 FOR SHARE OUR STRENGTH TO HELP FIGHT CHILDHOOD HUNGER IN GEORGIA.

The Examiner
by Lucy Mercer
September 1, 2010

The recent Give Me Five: Five Chefs & Five Sommeliers dinner raised $50,000 for Share Our Strength to help fight childhood hunger in Georgia. The East Lake Country Club event featured five courses and hors d’oeuvres prepared by five of Georgia’s best chefs. Five top sommeliers paired each course with complementary wines.

Participating chefs included Michael Deihl of East Lake Golf Club, Kevin Walker of Cherokee Town & Country Club, Gary Donlick of Bistro Niko, Jay Yarbrough of The Piedmont Driving Club and Hector Santiago of Pura Vida. The sommeliers included Angela Head of East Lake Golf Club, Stephen Clark of the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation, Eric Crane of Empire Distributors, Andres Loazia of Aria and Matt Bradford of Canoe.

The night of gourmet food and wine featured live classical music by the Morningside Musicians and live and silent charity auctions. Some of the unique auction items included a private cooking class for 10 people by Pura Vida’s executive chef Hector Santiago, a private wine tasting for 10 people and a two-night stay for two at Persimmon Creek Vineyards from event co-chairs Dr. Sonny and Mary Ann Hardman of Persimmon Creek Vineyards and an in-home five-course chef dinner for eight people by Cherokee Town & Country Club’s executive chef Kevin Walker.

East Lake Golf Club’s executive chef Michael Deihl’s five-course interactive hands-on cooking class including wine sold twice for a total of $2,400, while a five-course dinner featuring French cuisine with Burgundy wine pairings for 10 people by Bistro Niko’s executive chef Gary Donlick and wine expert Caleb Hopkins sold four times for a total of $5,200. Other top-selling items included a Northern California wine getaway for four people that sold for $4,600 and a private suite for 16 people at both an Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers game and signed team memorabilia that sold for $3,000.

Share Our Strength is a national nonprofit with the goal of ending childhood hunger in America by connecting children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry™ campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs, invests in community organizations fighting hunger, teaches families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and builds public-private partnerships to end hunger, both nationally and at the state level. For more information, check out www.strength.org.

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