Childhood Hunger

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No Kid Hungry Innovation Awards

Summary:

SN PARTNER SHARE OUR STRENGTH IS A LEADER IN THE BATTLE AGAINST HUNGER, AND ONE OF THE REASONS SOS DOES SUCH GREAT WORK IS THAT IT IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW IDEAS.

July 15

No Kid Hungry Innovation Awards

Service Nation
July 13, 2010


The best way to attack deeply ingrained social problems is with creativity and energy. SN partner Share Our Strength is a leader in the battle against hunger, and one of the reasons SOS does such great work is that it is always looking for new ideas. To get them, SOS created the No Kid Hungry Innovation Awards to seek out organizations that that are employing smart stategies that achieve an outsized impact.

Here’s how Share Our Strength describes what it is up to:

    There is an abundance of food and nutrition programs for children, but there are gaps, and too many kids are slipping through. Sometimes children don’t have a safe way to get to the programs, sometimes they don’t want to participate because it’s “not cool” to receive free lunch and all too often families just don’t know that programs exist.

    Share Our Strength created the No Kid Hungry Innovation Awards to honor innovative organizations that are overcoming barriers and connecting hungry kids with food.

More than 18,000 votes were cast in the search for the best hunger-fight innovators, and here are the winners.

First up is an organization that excels at gettig food to kids after school:

    The Greater Berks Food Bank (Reading, PA) started a new program this year called “Produce for Kids.” This innovative program delivers a bag filled with fresh produce to elementary school children on a weekday afternoon immediately after school to help stock their fridges with healthy ingredients.

Then we have two organization that are reaching hungry kids wherever they are:

    Homefront, No Kid Hungry Innovator and winner of $12,500

    HomeFront (Lawrenceville, NJ) provides transportation, education and recreational programs for homeless children, while providing comprehensive services designed to help homeless families meet the unique challenges they face in qualifying for programs like school lunch and food stamps.

And—

    Portland Parks Foundation (Portland, OR) is taking its popular mobile Rock Climbing Wall to high need communities to attract kids and serve them healthy meals.

Finally, we have an organization that is doing a great job getting more meals to more kids:

    PlusTime New Hampshire (Concord, NH) will expand after school meals and snack sites in New Hampshire with a focus on replication and expansion of effective programs.

It’s always inspiring to see how innovation translates into real impact, and it’s obvious that when it comes to hunger, poverty, and so many of the social challenges the United States is facing that creativity will be key. So keep innovating. Here’s why it matters.

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