By Charlie Foster

“We’re here for the people. That’s why we work, and we love it. The people are what matter,” the receptionist reflected.

And that’s the most important value of McLennan County Hunger Coalition (MCHC).

“We see a lot of people come through here. A lot of families and individuals come in here and use our programs,” said Linda Parker, receptionist for MCHC and Caritas. “They come in here to get assistance. If they don’t have the money to get food or get the things they need from the store, they come here to us, and we love to work with those people.”

The purpose of MCHC is to assist the citizens of McLennan County and the surrounding areas with government funding food benefits. Some of these benefits include SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and the Caritas food pantry.

But the underlying purpose of being there, says Parker, is to get to know the people.

“My neighbor across the street uses our services. She comes in here every other month, and I got to know her through living near her and seeing her here,” Parker said.

“We’ve developed a relationship,” she continued. “Now we carpool. She takes my grandson and her niece to school, and I pick them up every day. I value our relationship, and I’m so glad I met her here.”

But those relationships are also valued on the client end, as well.

April Satler has used the services of MCHC and Caritas since she was a little kid.

“I would come here with my older sister when I was real young,” she said. “I came here because I know it, and I used to work here, too. This is a good place to get help. I know the people that work here, like Ms. Parker. She treats everyone with respect, like family. Everyone here does, and that’s why I like it here.”

Gladdys Harris of Itasca has the similar reaction to the people of MCHC and Caritas.

“I used to come here with my church to serve other people, but now I come here for myself occasionally.”

Harris, 73, feels comfortable when she works with the people at MCHC and Caritas.

“I associate this place [MCHC and Caritas] with a good place,” she said.

Satler, 26, feels the same and advises people to come here.

“If people need help, this is a good place to come,” she said. “A lot of us already know about it, but some people just don’t have a clue. This is where you need to be to get help.”

“You become a family when you get to know the people here, and that’s what’s important,” Parker concluded. “My advice to those in need is to search the Bible and look to God for your answers. But if you can’t do that and He points you here, we want to change a life and make a difference for you.”

BU helps MCHC, steps out of Baylor bubble

By Caitlin Giddens

It’s no secret there is a separation between Baylor University and Waco. While Pat Neff radiates across the interstate, nearly 30 percent of Wacoans live below the poverty line. Baylor students and faculty hope to bridge this gap by working with McLennan County Hunger Coalition (MCHC) and partner organizations.

MCHC collaborates with local pantries, businesses, congregations, food producers and individuals to provide food security across Central Texas. As a coalition, MCHC relies on communication among other nonprofits. Act Locally Waco, a website created by Baylor Director of Continuous Improvement Ashley Thornton, serves as a bulletin board for nonprofit and volunteer organizations. Each Friday, Thornton sends an email to 600 subscribers, updating them on the current volunteer opportunities. Thornton may be an unconventional volunteer, but her efforts are essential for MCHC’s outreach.

“I don’t volunteer at the food panty or package up food, but I run the website that provides information to these organizations,” Thornton said. “Act Locally isn’t a solution – it’s a stirring pot. It’s encouraging because the email shows you’re not alone. There are people who care about nonprofits.”

When Thornton moved to Waco, she struggled to find a volunteer program that fit with her schedule. But she felt called to step outside of the Baylor bubble and volunteer for the Waco community.

“I found there aren’t volunteer opportunities for people who working during the day,” Thornton said. “Some of us have different gifts and there is a place for that. When I moved here, I would go to Hunger Coalition meetings and education meetings and expected to find the same people. They weren’t the same people, even though these are related issues. If we are going to move forward, we need to connect the [nonprofit] circles. “

Act Locally fuses information for nonprofits across Central Texas, but it is especially vital for MCHC’s constant communication with its partners. MCHC’s Program Director for Helpings Esther Morales met Thornton before she created Act Locally. They’ve worked together since Act Locally was established in 2008.

“Act Locally allows Hunger Coalition to use the website for referrals and collaborate with other fighting hunger agencies in our community,” Morales said. “I believe all volunteers are important to the nonprofit sector. They are the bloodline to making any project become a reality.”

Baylor’s assistance with MCHC and SNAP

In addition to providing food security, MCHC created SNAP Outreach, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP, which is housed in Caritas, helps people file for federal benefits and food stamps. As a public relations intern for Caritas, Baylor senior Kaitlin Ramby has been exposed to poverty in Waco. Ramby has stepped out of the Baylor bubble to witness MCHC’s partnership with Caritas to run SNAP.

“I think a lot of Baylor students realize there is a need in Waco, but since they aren’t up close and personal with it they don’t understand the gravity of Waco’s situation,” Ramby said. “At Caritas, I see tons of families come in who don’t have food to put on the table. The Caritas building is almost never empty.”

Following the explosion in West on April 17, MCHC, Caritas and other nonprofits provided help to Waco’s neighbor community.

“Caritas immediately updated the Facebook page to alert people that we were taking donations of food, clothing, furniture and other items for relief in West,” Ramby said. “The donations to West became so overwhelming, we actually had to turn some of it away. It was great to see the organization I work for making such an effort.”

Baylor students and faculty strive to bridge the gap between the university and city. But MCHC will continue to need help when students leave for summer. Morales stressed the need for hunger relief in the hotter months.

“We need volunteers to help with  and summer food drives, as well as outreach information and neighborhood walks,” Morales said. “I always encourage those interested in volunteering to attend one of MCHS’s monthly meetings.”

Making a Difference and Giving Back

By Kasey McMillian

The McLennan County Hunger Coalition is housed by the new facility of Caritas and even though they are separate organizations, they are both working towards the same goal of feeding the needy. “We’re working hand in hand for the same thing and it’s to help the less fortunate,” Ericka Swain, the pantry manager for Caritas, said.

“I think it’s a comfort for the clients to come in and see a newly renovated and cleaner facility because it doesn’t feel good to have to go to a place to get help that’s in bad condition and now here, it’s a professional environment,” Swain said. Caritas and the Hunger Coalition have been successful over the past years but the new facility insures more opportunity to expand the program to more clients in need.

Caritas and the Hunger Coalition have similar goals of:

-program enlargement

-having more partnerships with agencies

-having more outreaches within the community

-sending in the client’s application completed to eliminate a lot of the case workers job or steps at the health and human services office

-getting some medical professional to come and share their expertise

-coming up with money for more grants

Working for Caritas, Ericka Swain is the pantry manager and she is in charge of managing volunteers and workers, making sure food is stocked and organized in the pantry in a timely manner, preparing food for clients, and makes sure the warehouse is delivering enough food regularly to Caritas. Caritas pantry also gives out diapers, hygiene products, and also cleaning products. “The most rewarding part [it happens at least once a day] is the joy in a client’s eyes when we come to them with the list of things that they’ve asked for whether it’s diapers for food or if they need some soap or whatever they needed,” Swain said. “It’s just the satisfying gratitude that you get for smalls things that people take for granite every day. “

Over the years, “Spring onto Summer” has been a large event for both Caritas the Hunger Coalition and helps benefit families during the summer while their children are home from school and aren’t provided with meals. Waco Independent School District has partnered with the Hunger Coalition for food drives, the Child Nutrition Services with the Texas Stop Hunger Golf Tournament and the homeless connect with veterans and with other agencies at the Convention Center.

“Something that the board officers [of the Hunger Coalition] are looking for in 2013-2014 is coming up with some great ideas for fundraisers and were venturing and looking into it,” Esther Morales, program director for the SNAP outreach programs, said. “We need something that’s gonna catch people’s attention and to support on the issues that we fill that were making a difference in the community.”

Working with the Hunger Coalition, Esther Morales’s job helps with a federal benefits program called SNAP; formally known as Food Stamps is the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. It provides monthly funding for people that need help paying for groceries.

SNAP was established with Caritas because they noticed the incline of people coming in more weekly instead of monthly and then realized people were not utilizing the federal benefits program. Therefore, by having this program there in the new facility, employees are doing all the work, filling out applications, organizing documents and translating for clients who have a hard time reading and writing in English. This facility has impacted the growth of both organizations and because of the helpful environment the clients in the office has inclined.

“I am primarily I am responsible first and foremost to make sure we’re doing everything possible to encourage people and families and individuals to get educated on the benefits for applying for SNAP benefits, that’s my primary role,” Morales said. “But through the years it has expanded into the direction of an Executive director role, because I also write grants to sustain the program through funding for the helpings and then I’ll write grants to sustain some of the summer meal programs. I also have written grants for Waco ISD and backpack program when it first initiated through Texas Department of Development Culture.”

Both employees, Esther Morales and Ericka Swain relied on food stamps during their life and they understand the importance of what Caritas and the Hunger Coalition are trying to do within the community.

“I just want to make sure that we get to a point to where our community and our children and our children’s children and our neighbors and friends, that we all are living a healthier life,” Morales said.

And both organizations have great ideas on how to expand for the future together and separately to make their organizations bigger and better than they already are now.

“I would like to see more clients come in because I believe there’s more people out there that need help and outreach in the community because we’ve got this new facility,” Swain said. “There’s so much more we can do then just feed, there are so many other needs and I think that we need to take advantage of that.”

Each year, one week before Thanksgiving, National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness co-sponsor National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week. During this week, a number of schools, communities and cities take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness.

This year the events for Waco’s Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week are as follows:

Sunday November 11^th

The week of awareness begins at the Church Under the Bridge (I-35 and S. 4th Street) at 11:00 a.m.  Join a diverse crowd in praise and worship together.

Monday November 12th

Join our letter writing and advocacy efforts at Common Grounds (1123 South 8th), The World Cup Café (1321 North 15th) and the Baylor Chapel from 9:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m.  We will be writing to our local, state and national governmental leaders expressing our concern and asking them not to cut spending for important hunger, shelter, and poverty legislation, as well as encouraging them to act on behalf of those living in poverty.

Wednesday November 14^th

Join us for dinner and a movie.  Come out to the Jubilee Theatre (1319 N. 15th St.) at 7:00 p.m. to watch the film, “First, Last and Deposit” a movie about the brutal reality of poverty and homelessness in America.  Gather for dinner with your friends at one of the surrounding restaurants for a pre-movie meal.  Restaurants include:  D’s Mediterranean (1503 Colcord Ave), Kitok’s (1815 North 18th Street), the World Cup Cafe (1321 North 15th St.), San Diego (1229 N 18th St), Double R Burgers (1810 Herring Ave), and El Charro Tapatio (1615 West Waco Drive).

Thursday November 15th

Volunteer at one of Waco’s local food pantries, Shepherd’s Heart (1401 North 34th).  3:00p.m. to 6:00 p.m, Witness the need in our community first hand.

Friday November 16th

Attend a meeting of the Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition at the VA (4800 Memorial Drive, Bldg. 6) 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Participate in the local Food for Families Food Drive as a contributor, or/and as a volunteer.  Call Khaliah Warren at Caritas, 254-753-4593 for information.

Saturday November 17th

Celebrate the one year anniversary of the Waco Downtown Farmers Market (400 South University Parks Drive) 9AM to 12:00PM

Download a .pdf version of the flyer here and here

October 9, 2012: On Saturday, October 20th, Trinity Lutheran Church (Badger Ranch) located at 2 Ritchie Road, Woodway, will host an Oktoberfest Dinner, with live music entertainment from members of the “Star Over Texas Jamboree”, plus silent auction to benefit the programs of Lutheran Ministries and Social Services of Waco (LMSS-Waco). LMSS-Waco is a local Waco Christian non-profit best known for its Legal Assistance Project, a pro se civil legal aid clinic which serves to educate persons unable to afford the services of an attorney and who, therefore, must learn how to represent themselves in civil court.

LMSS-Waco is listed in the Texas State Bar Directory of Services for Low-Income Texans. It primarily serves residents of McLennan and Hillsboro counties on issues such as child custody and elder law. There is a tremendous need for legal services for the poor in our country and Texas is no exception. Traditional Legal Aid can serve only about 2 out of every 5 income-eligible persons who apply for their services. In 2011, the average annual income for the families served through the pro se clinic of LMSS-Waco was $15,146 per year. For a family of four, this income level is $7,904 less than the poverty line for the state of Texas.

In 2008, the federal government passed the Increasing Adoptions Act, which mandated that permanent family placement – rather than foster care – of abused and neglected children was to be the goal of Child Protective Service agencies in every state. In the past, family members who could not afford the typical $1,500-3,000 up-front retainer (to obtain this permanent legal custodial placement) had no other option than to lose the child to the foster care system. Now they have another choice in Central Texas, through the use of the Legal Assistance Project of LMSS-Waco.

The dinner will be served starting at 6:30pm and the event will end at 9:30pm.  Tickets are priced as follows: $25 in advance and $35 at the door, with table sponsorships available for $250 (single table) and $500 for two tables. The menu will feature traditional German sausages with appropriate sides. All funds raised at this event will be matched, dollar for dollar through a matching grant through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation.

Lutheran Ministries and Social Services of Waco is dedicated to bringing hope and peace of mind — to those in our community too poor to afford the services of an attorney for a civil legal issue — by providing access to justice with compassion. Our emphasis is on doing God’s work as we are instructed to do in Micah 6:8, “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

###

For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Francine Lumbard, Director of Lutheran Ministries and Social Services of Waco (LMSS-Waco) call (254) 757-3402

Or contact her by email flumbard@lmss-waco.org

Sacrifice just one meal

Most of us have never missed a meal due to famine or poverty. The McLennan County Hunger Coalition (MCHC) is sponsoring their 3rd annual Fast of Caring on Tuesday, October 16—World Food Day. The Hunger Coalition would like to encourage everyone to participate by sacrificing their midday meal on October 16 in order to experience, first-hand, the feeling of hunger. The event is simple but powerful in its potential to focus upon our own blessings and the needs of others, locally and globally. A short ceremony will be held on October 16t^h, at The Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry at1401 North 34th Street in Waco from 12:15 to 12:45 for participants from various companies, churches and organizations.  We will also take this opportunity to honor people in our community to who are working to alleviate hunger and poverty both here and around the world.

Your donations at work in the community

Participants are encouraged to donate the cost of the lunch they will be missing (approximately $7.50). Donations are strictly voluntary and it is not necessary to participate in the fast. All funds donated through the McLennan County Hunger Coalition will go to help fund the efforts of various food pantries and hunger ministries in Waco.

Needed: One contact person to represent your local business

We appreciate all that you do to help to fight hunger in our own community and hope that you can find one person in your organization to help spread the word about the Fast of Caring in your business. Please find enclosed a company registration form.  Please let us know if you will participate and if you plan on joining us at Shepherd’s Heart. Your contact person will spread the word at your organization, collect from those who would like to donate, and be responsible to keep record of contributions.  Brett Case, MCHC VISTA, will pick up the donations on Monday, October 18^th or you may bring them to Friday’s ceremony.

Please call or e-mail Kenneth Moerbe or Brett Case to let us know if your organization plans on participating.

Kenneth Moerbe                                                                        Brett Case

McLennan County Hunger Coalition Chair Person                  McLennan County Hunger Coalition VISTA

254- 715-0143                                                                            254-224-8486

email: kpmoerbe@grandecom.net                                     email: vista@mclennanhunger.org

Every 1st Tuesday of the month at 123 E. Texas Ave in Mart, TX

Every 2nd Saturday of the month at Paul Quinn Campus, Waco, TX

Every 3rd Friday of the month at 320 Falls St, Marlin, TX

Every 3rd Tuesday of the month at Texas State Technical College. Mazanec Rd, Waco TX

More information about the mobile food pantry can be found on the capital area food bank website here

 11 a.m. – 1:00pm

Free, healthy food for your family!

 Get help applying for Food Stamps

Food distributed could include:

meat • beans • canned vegetables

soup • cereal • potatoes • canned fruit

rice • pasta • pasta sauce • other nutritious foods

A free community service brought to you by:

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and Shepherd’s Heart

The Heart of Texas CROP Hunger Walk has set a goal of 200 Walkers and hopes to raise $5,000.00 to help stop hunger and poverty in the Waco community and around the world. A portion of the funds from the walk will go to Caritas of Waco. Last year, some 80 walkers braved the drought-breaking rain to raise more than $4,000 in the local CROP Hunger Walk. This year’s walk will take place on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 14, at Bledsoe Miller Park (300 Martin Luther King Blvd.) Registration will begin at 2:00 and the walk will begin at 3:00. CROP Hunger Walks are held in more than 2,000 cities in the United States, all during the year, involving hundreds of faith communities. With the theme “Ending hunger one step at a time,” walkers proclaim their solidarity with the millions of people around the world who have to walk long distances to find food and water—as well as with the millions of people served by local food pantries, food banks and meal sites in our own country.  A portion of the funds from every CROP Hunger Walk goes to a local agency that serves hungry people. The local recipient for this year’s walk is Caritas of Waco.

Participants in the CROP hunger walk recruit friends and members of their congregations to sponsor them as they walk. Registration and preliminary activities begin at 2:00 pm and participants will start walking at 3:00. The 5K route goes from Bledsoe-Miller Park (300 Martin Luther King Blvd), up the Brazos River Walk to the Herring Avenue bridge and across, down through the Pecan Bottoms of Cameron Park along University Parks Drive to the Washington Street bridge, and back to Bledsoe-Miller Park. For those who don’t think they can walk for five kilometers (3.2 miles), there is a “Golden Mile” route. Fun prizes will be awarded to various walkers—including for Best Costume.

For more information about the Heart of Texas CROP Hunger Walk, contact Katie Cook at Seeds of Hope 254/755-7745 or email seedseditor@clearwire.net.

2012CROP flyer2

The future you want.

Job skills.  Life skills. 

Basic Computer Skills

Register for FREE night classes 

Christian Women’s Job Corps

Classes start August 27

Tues. & Thurs., 6:00PM-9:00PM

4112 Memorial Drive in Waco

Call today: #254-757-0416

If you know any women who would benefit from job skills training, life skills training, and basic computer skills, please tell them about CWJC night classes.  These classes are specifically designed for daytime working women (9AM-5PM), women taking college classes during the day, and others who cannot attend the CWJC daytime program and need night programming.For more info visit http://cwjcwaco.org/

Summer Meals served at La Vega Community Church

Although summer is winding down as the school year approaches, many of Waco, La Vega, and Connally ISD Summer Meal sites still offer meals throughout August.  To find a site near you text FoodTX to 877-877, visit wacoisd.org or call 254-750-3763 .

UPDDATE 8/24: Group Helps Bridge Hunger Gap.

On Saturday July 21^st The McLennan County Hunger Coalition partnered with Bohemia Magazine to raise 140 pounds of food for the Shepherd’s Heart Food Pantry. The Event featured a variety of Waco artists and performers as well as vendors and wine tasting. Some musicians included The Horton Duo, Cordial Roy, Well Behaved Young Men and the Fly Seks, a full list of venders and performers can be seen here.

The event was free and patrons were encouraged to bring canned or dry food to donate to the McLennan County Hunger Coalition. The Hunger Coalition gave all the food collected to shepherds heart in Waco. This food will help the pantry finish out the summer months before kids return to school in the fall.  The event was an overall success and the Hunger Coalition hopes to work with Bohemia in the future to continue to raise awareness of hunger and poverty in McLennan County as well as build the relationship between the arts and nonprofit communities in Waco.

On Sunday, July 22^nd  the Hunger Coalition’s AmeriCorps VISTA Brett Case competed in the 2^nd annual Waco Triathlon to raise funds for McLennan Pack of Hope. Pack of Hope is an afterschool backpack program that supplies supplemental meals to children in low income households on weekends.  The sprint triathlon was a fifteen mile race consisting of a 400 meter swim in the Brazos River, a twelve mile bike ride down MLK Boulevard followed by a three and a half mile run around the Brazos and over the suspension bridge.

Brett raised $800.00 in total through pledges and donations. The pledge amount was multiplied by how fast Brett completed the race. He completed the race in one hour and twenty six minutes which multiplied each donors pledge by two. The $800.00 raised from this event will go to purchase food that will be used in the Pack of Hope backpacks.

With school rapidly approaching Pack of Hope is preparing for the initial demand of backpacks by asking people  to volunteer with them and pack backpacks at their Waco ISD Child Nutrition Warehouse located at 2025 S. 19^th Street in Waco, TX.  Make a difference in a child’s life today and help the pack.  Learn more at http://pack-of-hope.com/

A message from McLennan County Pack of Hope

Join the Pack!

With a new school year approaching, McLennan County Pack of Hope is gearing up for its important backpack program.

Pack of Hope is a backpack program that works to end weekend hunger for children living in McLennan County by providing backpacks of nutritious food to eligible students when they are not in school.

Pack of Hope is currently looking for volunteers. Join the Pack and pack backpacks with us at the Waco ISD Child Nutrition Warehouse located at 2025 S. 19th Street in Waco, TX.

Packing begins Thursday, September 6th. Contact Scott Anglesey at 254-716-3161 for more information. See the attachment for a full Packing Calendar.

Pack of Hope Backpack Calendar

You can view the rest of the photos here

Parents who bring their children to Youngblood Boys and Girls Club, Korean United Methodist Church , Provedent Heights Elementary School, or La Vega Community Church will receive free lunch. For a list of all the summer meal sites see our google map here

Bohemia will be hosting a festival type event with poets, storytellers, musicians, and artists at Waco’s The Art Forum (located at 1826 Morrow Ave) on July 21.  Bring one canned food item or dry food item to get in free. All canned food donations will go to Shepard’s Heart Food Pantry of Waco.

There will be between 30 and 40 vendors selling food, art, beverages, goods, etc. There will also be a Bohemia table where you can order subscriptions, buy back issues, and get Bohemia merchandise.

Confirmed vendors: Mike’s Airbrushing, Courtney Woodliff, Brian Broadway, Pat Jones Photography, Summer Piercer’s Almost Edible Soaps N Things, Cecy Ayla, Patricia Kelly, Memory Boards by Megan Sheffield, CJ Jackson’s xbohica, Brandon Reasoner with Phoenix Threads (and more pending!) All night: Tea Aguilar – eclectic indie mix DJ 11:30 Kat Dixon of Married With Sea Monsters 11:00 Tea Aguilar Band 10:30 Cordial Roy – alternative rock 10:00 Well-Behaved Young Men – folk rock 9:30 The Fly Seks – indie hip-hop 9:00 Blind Rabbit Society – classic/alternative/progressive rock 8:30 Justin Roberts – soul vocalist 8:00 The Horton Duo Back issues, current issues, and subscriptions will be available for sale. Bohemia Journal is a color glossy art and literary journal printed locally in Waco, TX.  

The Urban Gardening Coalition is having the groundbreaking ceremony for their new Urban Training Farm on July 9th at 10:00am at 312 Chestnut Street Waco, TX 76704.  They invite everyone to come out and show their support for the program. The UGC has received support or pledges of support from the Cooper Foundation, the McLennan County Hunger Coalition, our board of directors, private donors, and a host of other partners to make this project a reality, and is excited the project is finally becoming a reality.  If you are planning to come, it is next to the old Farmers Market Building in East Waco, and it is best to park on Mann Street.  Contact Zac Bryan at 817-909-3608 or zacugc@gmail.com if you have any questions about the event or how you can become more involved with the program.

The UGC has recently been on NPR and KCEN, The links to those stories can be found below :

http://www.kcentv.com/story/18778913/its-time-texas-gardening-coalition-targets-poor-urban-areas

http://edge.baylor.edu/media/177573/177573-audio.mp3

On July 22^nd Brett Case will be competing in the 4th annual Waco Triathlon on behalf of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition and Pack of Hope.  The sprint triathlon Brett will be competing in involves a 400m (.35 mile) swim, 12 mile bike ride and 5k run (about 3.2 miles). More information about the triathlon can be found on their website here .

All proceeds will go to benefit the McLennan County Pack of Hope. Pack of Hope is a school backpack program that provides backpacks of food to low income children on the weekends.

To donate and make your pledge send an email to mchcvista@gmail.com or call Brett at 254-224-8486 indicating how much you want to pledge, your address, and phone number.  Brett will contact you to confirm your pledge amount and details regarding the race .

The pledge amounts will correlate to the following chart,

If Brett completes the race in …

less than 1 hour and 30 minutes=donate your pledge amount x2

less than 1 hour 15 min=donate your pledge amount x3

less than 1 hour= donate your pledge amount x4

Brett plans to complete the race in around an hour and 15 minutes. Come out to the suspension bridge  and watch  the race on Sunday, July 22nd 6:45am.

This Wednesday the McLennan County Hunger Coalition will have a food drive at Katie’s Custard in Waco, located at 602 South Valley Mills Drive. Donate one can of food or nonpershible food item and receive one free icecream cone.

Katie’s Frozen Custard is a true Waco original, with frozen custard made fresh every 40 minutes.  Not only do they serve gourmet custard, but it is also high in protein, rich in omega 3’s, and very wholesome! Katie’s Frozen Custard is the perfect combination of “delicious and nutritious.”  Located at 602 South Valley Mills Drive, Katie’s Frozen Custard is a true Waco Original that loves Waco and wants to give back through more community-oriented events like their Community Charity Challenge

The temperature is not the only thing that rises during the summer months. Every summer the demand for food rises in many McLennan County households.  With Waco schools out for the Summer many children who rely on reduced or free school meals for lunch and breakfast will now have to get their meals elsewhere. Often the families of these children must turn to other sources to make ends meet.

These alternate sources include food pantries and summer feeding sites. Buddy Edwards of Caritas has reported an increased demand during the summer months and has said, “Families typically have more mouths to feed during the summer since their kids are at home and overall food donations to Caritas drop off in the summer, so by the end of August we are generally almost out of food.”  The SOS food drive was held last month to help food pantries prepare for the summer months and alleviate some of the stress put on them.

In addition to food pantries, families can go to summer meal sites which are located throughout Waco and McLennan County. The feeding sites will serve breakfast and lunch to any child 18 or under and adults for only $2.00 for breakfast and $3.00 for lunch.

A current list of summer meal sites can be found here or by calling the MCHC at 254-224-8486 or Waco ISD at 254-750-3763.

Eat for Free Handout

The Urban Gardening Coalition is having the groundbreaking ceremony for their new Urban Training Farm on July 9th at 10:00am at 312 Chestnut Street Waco, TX 76704.  They invite everyone to come out and show their support for the program. The UGC has received support or pledges of support from the Cooper Foundation, the McLennan County Hunger Coalition, our board of directors, private donors, and a host of other partners to make this project a reality, and is excited the project is finally becoming a reality.  If you are planning to come, it is next to the old Farmers Market Building in East Waco, and it is best to park on Mann Street.  Contact Zac Bryan at 817-909-3608 or zacugc@gmail.com if you have any questions about the event or how you can become more involved with the program.

The UGC has recently been on NPR and KCEN, The links to those stories can be found below :

http://www.kcentv.com/story/18778913/its-time-texas-gardening-coalition-targets-poor-urban-areas

http://edge.baylor.edu/media/177573/177573-audio.mp3

]]> http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?feed=rss2&p=500 0 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=498 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=498#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:38:50 +0000 Brett http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=498

This Saturday, April 14th the Food Network will be airing a special about hunger in America.  This one-hour special that takes a first-hand look at the crisis of childhood hunger in America through the eyes of the parents, children, activists, educators and politicians on the front-lines of the battle. Check it out the full video here http://www.foodnetwork.com/share-our-strength/package/index.html

The students who participated in Catalyst spent their mornings volunteering at various locations throughout Waco doing direct service projects. After the students finished their morning volunteer projects they went to the Kate Ross housing facilities to lead activities for the Catalyst spring break day camp. The day camp was open to all kids living at Kate Ross. One of the major expenses associated with the Catalyst program were the cost of meals throughout the week.

The MCHC has decided to use funds from the Valero grant and donate $2,000 to Acts church to cover the cost of meals for their Catalyst spring break day camp. The meals served at this program are important because many of the children attending the camp usually rely on free or reduced meals from school. The meal provided by the day camp is free to all children living in Kate Ross who are on spring break. Many of these children’s parents work full time and can’t stay home to cook for their kids during school breaks. The meal provided at Catalyst is also an added incentive for kids to participate in the day camp to get them to play outside and enjoy their spring break in positive and safe environment.

The MCHC hopes to continue this relationship with Acts Church and their afterschool programs by supporting their Spring Break program and their Storehouse Food Pantry.

Using grant funds obtained from the Valero Energy Foundation, MCHC is providing $2500.00 to a little known program of WIC, which involves providing nutrition education materials for its clients.  Most persons are aware of the food benefits that WIC provides for families in need, but WIC also provides nutrition education through individual counseling twice a year and through classes another two times per year.  WIC has a Fun in the Garden, Fund in the Kitchen, Fun in the Grocery Store and a reading class in which they distribute age-appropriate books to their clients for their home libraries.  Books are offered both in English and Spanish.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics reading stimulates brain development and the Academy recommends that caregivers begin reading to babies by the age of six months.  The reading classes  includes a lesson on the importance of reading and good nutrition for brain growth and development.  Book selections include titles like, “Easting the Alphabet”, “The Surprise Garden”, and “The Very Hungry Caterpiller”, “Eat!”, “I Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato”, and “The Hungry Thing”.  All selections are designed to inspire a deep love of reading across generations while reinforcing WIUC’s essential message to parents, “Your child has you, and you have WIC.
These funds are expected to provide for over 780 books, and provide program support for at least 6 months.  This WIC program is very much in keeping with MCHC’s efforts to help organizations and agencies improve the nutrition of their child clients.

 Some  facts  from the video:

-Currently 46 million Americans qualify and use food stamps.

-The typical food stamp recipient is not unemployed.

-Food stamp recipients are typically working and or over 65 years old.

Watch Portraits of Hunger on PBS. See more from Need to Know.

See the whole article here 

STARS currently has 100 students enrolled in 3 sessions and has had over 400 graduates come through the program since its founding in 2002. There are also many students who attend STARS for a short time then return to their home campuses to graduate. Students who attend STARS have unique and complicated life situations that make it difficult for them to attend normal school sessions. STARS was created to help students’ complete their graduation requirements in an individualized, helpful environment so they can earn their diplomas and progress towards college and/or employment.

While STARS is technically part of Waco ISD, STARS does not get funding for food. The STARS building is not equipped with a cafeteria or kitchen, only a microwave and heating skillet. Most food is purchased by teachers or staff with their own personal money. The McLennan County Hunger Coalition recognized the need for funding and has provided the STARS school with a $1000 donation to go towards the purchase of healthy snacks for students to eat during study and class sessions.  The $1000 is part of a Valero Grant the Hunger Coalition received earlier this year to go towards efforts to combat child hunger .

In regards to how STARS would use the funds, STARS Principal Norma Moon said, “We would utilize the funds to purchase snacks that would be appropriate for morning, afternoon, and evening students.  Sometimes that would mean breakfast type items, such as lean pockets, fruit cups, juice, apples, oranges, Pop Tarts, nature/breakfast bars.  We would continue purchasing peanut butter and cheese crackers; the kids enjoy these, and they are a healthy snack.  We would also purchase cookies and other snacks that come in large size containers and share them as needed with students.  We occasionally buy pizzas (at a discounted price) and $1 menu items from McDonald’s, as well as some candy.  Currently we buy as we can, either through local support or the staff’s personal funds.  These funds would allow us to look at what we buy for snacks and make good, healthy choices (as much as we can) and ensure that these students  are eating something so that they can do their work at school.

The Hunger Coalition is excited to see this money going towards a great cause and hopes to work with STARS more in the future.

Watch Feeding Minds on PBS. See more from Feeding Minds: Texas Takes on Hunger and Obesity.

The following is a quick overview of how the McLennan County Hunger Coalition has begun to invest the Valero Energy Fdn.’s grant of $22,500, in the community on behalf of hungry children and youth.  To date the following funds have been distributed:

1)  $4387.50 has been given to the McLennan County Pack of Hope (www.pack-of-hope.com) as part of meeting the matching gift (MCHC contributes $1.00 for every $2.00 contributed by the community) of $10,000 awarded to them by MCHC.  McLennan County Pack of Hope provides backpacks of food for the weekend to about 400 children in 9 McLennan County ISDs.  Many McLennan County public school students (about 80%) are eligible for free or reduced meals.

2) Up to $2500.00 will be contributed to the 2nd Annual SOS (Spring Onto Summer) Food Drive, to be used to advertise and publicize the April 27, 2012 food drive.  This food drive is designed to provide food to several local pantries during the summer months when typically in-kind and monetary contributions decrease while demand for emergency and supplemental food increases because children cannot access free and reduced breakfasts and lunches in schools.    The underlying theme of this food drive is “Children Feeding Children”, as most of the food will be solicited from youth who are part of local Little Leagues, Soccer Leagues, as well as congregational youth groups and children’s ministries.  Funds not used to advertise and promote the SOS Food Drive will be donated to the drive to purchase food.

3) $500.00 of a $1,000.00 gift is being given to Stars High School of Waco to be used to purchase nutritious snack food appropriate for morning, afternoon, and evening students.  STARS is a self-paced, individualized program for students who are at risk of dropping out of high school, are between the ages of 16-21, and have barriers to their education.  These students often come from households living at or below the federal poverty level, and are in a state of food insecurity.

Finally, current plans are to invest the remainder of the grant in local ISD’s Summer meals or feeding programs.  For the last four years the MCHC has collaborated with Waco ISD Child Nutrition Services to promote/advertise summer meals/feeding sites throughout the Waco community in schools, congregations, and other locations.  Most of this support has been in the form of advertisement (posters/flyers,etc) to grow the awareness of the availability  of free breakfast and lunch  for children 1 to 18 years of age.  Last year alone, the MCHC paid for over 1200 adult/parent meals ($4200.00) to hopefully encourage parents to bring their children to the various sites for free lunches in a campaign entitled, “Have Lunch on Us.”

To sum it up,

$ 4387.50 has been given to POH out of the $10,000 allocated to them.

$2,500 has been allocated to the S.O.S food drive.

$500 has been given to STARS out of a planned $1,000 award.

In total we have used/ are in the process of using $13,500 of the grant towards these three programs. As of right now the remaining $9000 will go towards summer meals and feeding programs.

For many individuals the process of applying for federal SNAP benefits is an obstacle made more challenging by the challenges of poverty, homelessness or misfortune.  When an individual is suffering from an illness, malnutrition, stress or one of the many other complications that coincide with a lack of resources, navigating through the eighteen page SNAP application becomes another daunting challenge.  The purpose of Helpings is to help eligible people access the federal benefits they qualify for by helping them complete the application for SNAP.  Helpings simplifies the application process by providing individuals with someone to guide them through the various application requirements.

In the training, Esther Morales shared with pantry and church leaders her process for helping persons navigate through a SNAP application. The training covered a lot of situations that commonly occur when applying for SNAP. There was some discussion over what exactly constitutes a “household”. There was also a discussion about who can and cannot qualify for benefits.  Currently individuals with a drug related felony conviction cannot qualify for SNAP but Helpings will still help them apply. Helpings is not about turning people away, but helping people who are seeking help.

The Red Door Pantry is the only food Pantry in Waco that specifically serves individuals with HIV and Aids. It was founded in 2006 when their founder realized there was a need in the community. There are many food pantries throughout the country that cater to the needs of the HIV and Aids community and the Red Door Pantry in Waco is unique because it’s currently the only pantry of its kind in McLennan County. The director of Red Door told me the community response has been positive. Any person can get food from the pantry once per month as long as they show proof of their HIV status. The pantry also acts as an HIV and Aids awareness center by providing a wealth of pamphlets and reading information, as well as HIV support groups.  Thanks to Helpings, the Red Door & the Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church will soon be able to aid people in applying for SNAP benefits. It should be noted that the Red Door Pantry and the Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church are separate entities.  Individuals don’t need to be a member of the church to receive food from Red Door Pantry.

To contact the red door you can email them at centexmcc@earthlink.net  or find them online at centexmcc.com.

Update: Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church will be assisting people with filling out and

faxing SNAP applications on Saturday, February 18 (and the third Saturday of every month),

from 9:00 a.m. until 2pm. Central Texas MCC is located at 1601 Clay Ave, for anyone interested

in enrolling in SNAP.

Future Dates: March 17 , April 21, May 19, June 16, July 21, August 18, September 15, and October 21.

Caritas of Waco’s 2012 annual fundraiser “Feast of Caring” will be held on Thursday, February 23rd, at the McLennan Community College Conference Center, 4601 N. 19th St., at 6 p.m. to celebrate the work of the agency in providing emergency assistance to the disadvantaged in Central Texas.

This year the event features students from Waco Charter School who have written winning essays entitled “Helping Others in Need” as well as the Waco High School Show Choir.  A tradition of the feast will be continued by serving a simple meal of bread and soup to help attendees empathize with the struggles of those affected by poverty or hunger. No tickets are required but donations to Caritas are accepted.

Caritas provides aid to those who do not have enough of life’s basics such as food, clothing, household needs and medicine. Caritas, a United Way agency, also depends on support from individuals, businesses, churches and numerous community organizations to sustain its operations.

For more information, contact Buddy Edwards at Caritas at 753-4593. Donations may be mailed to Caritas at 300 South 15th Street, Waco, Texas 76701.

The day started around 12:00pm with a healthy lunch provided by campus kitchens. The lunch consisted of a delicious turkey wrap, a banana and sun chips with sweet tea and water to drink. There were also granola and peanut butter wraps for vegetarians.  After lunch we began to pull out out the old wood frames that surrounded the current school garden plots. We had to tear out the old frames because they were being eaten away by weeds and weather damage. The new frames that we put in were solid concrete. There was a bit heavy lifting involved but the weather was pleasant and there were a lot of other volunteers to help. After the cement frames were set up new soil was placed inside the frames. Once the soil was in place and spread around evenly, potatoes and one onion were handed out to the kids to plant. When all was said and done the garden was improved and the kids had a lot of fun helping out with everything as well as learn a thing or two about gardening.

Overall, MLK day at Brook Ave Elementary school was a success. At the same time I was volunteering at Brook Ave there were many other gardening sites all around Waco doing the same thing. The gardening sites set up by the UGC are part of the National MLK Day of Service. The MLK Day of Service was created to honor the memory and spirit of Dr. King by creating ways for people to serve their community in order to solve our most pressing problems in the local and national community. If you are interested in learning more about the MLK day of service visit their site at. www.mlkday.gov.

Kenneth Moerbe and Ed Passalugo

The MCHC recently received a grant of $22,500 from the Valero Energy Foundation. Kenneth Moerbe, on the behalf of the MCHC Board applied for this grant in May of 2011 after learning that the Valero Foundation, through its Valero Texas Open Benefit for Children PGA Golf Tournament, raises money for children’s charities in the communities where Valero has major operations. The grant proposal outlined some of the ways in which the MCHC encourages and supports local programs to reduce child hunger in McLennan County. The MCHC Board of Directors is in the process of determining which local organizations will be assisted in their efforts to reduce child hunger in the county. If you have any suggestions on how the MCHC can use this money towards solving the problem of child hunger in McLennan County please contact us at mchcvista@gmail.com or contact Kenneth Moerbe at kpmoerbe(at)grandecom(dot)net

Update 1/11/12: The MCHC Board of Directors has decided to give a gift of $10,000 to the Pack of Hope (POH), a backpack program,  currently serving children in need in nine McLennan County ISDs.  The POH presently is providing child-friendly, nutritious food to over 400 children on weekends, when they do not have access to free or reduced breakfasts or lunches provided on Monday-Friday by the local Child Nutrition Services in these nine ISDs.  It is a well known fact that thousands of children in McLennan County are unable to obtain adequate nutrition on weekends.  MCHC’s gift is a matching gift which will provide $1.00 (up to $10,000) for every $2.00 donated to the POH during 2012, hopefully generating a total of $30,000 to support this much needed effort to provide food for hungry, school-age children in McLennan County.

Do something positive for your community this MLK Day.  Celebrate the spirit of Doctor King by taking part in one of the many service oriented events happening in Waco. This January 16^th our friends at the Urban Gardening Coalition will be hosting  gardening workshops around the city from 12:00pm to 3:00pm. You can find out more about the UGC’s activities here.  Visit one of the following websites to register yourself, your friends or your families;  search for garden events on Idealist.org and MLKDay.gov or go straight to the registration info for Waco MLK Day Events on Eventbrite.

Our friends at Mission Waco will also be hosting service opportunities.  At 10:30 AM they will have a program on Dr. King and racial reconciliation at 10:30 in the Jubilee Theatre.  Meet in their office later at 1:00pm for the opportunity to serve at one of their various volunteer sites.

]]> http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?feed=rss2&p=399 1 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=391 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=391#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:42:00 +0000 Brett http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=391
Also, 

By Regina Dennis

Tribune-Herald staff writer Tuesday November 29, 2011

Job seekers and disabled residents are among the bus riders taking advantage of a free travel training program Waco Transit offers to help new passengers learn the city’s bus system. The service gives residents a basic overview of the public transportation system, such as route times, fare costs and bus stop locations, as well as skills in reading route maps and planning bus trips. Waco Transit staffers also can accompany riders on a bus ride demonstration and answer questions. The services are scheduled upon request.

Clara Dunlap makes her way to a seat on a Waco Transit bus Monday. Waco Transit is offering route-planning training. Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune-Herald “We’ll typically try to work with each of them on how to build a route based around where they live and what places they frequently go to, and to just get them to try to understand how to use the service and how to use the map,” Waco Transit marketing director Brandon Thomas said. Thomas said he recently led a session with a group of men who were part of a faith-based transition program for people who have been incarcerated. The agency also has done training with Sanderson Farms for employees who need reliable transportation to the Bellmead plant. In addition, Thomas said Waco Transit has held training with disabled students to teach them how to get around the city safely on their own.

Waco Independent School District spokesman Dale Caffey said a blind student is among those participating in training sessions. Thomas said the bus service prefers to lead group trainings, but staff members will meet individually with residents who need route planning or guided-travel training. Julie Talbert, contract manager for child care and transportation services for the local Workforce Solutions for the Heart of Texas chapter, said the agency has enlisted Waco Transit to hold travel training sessions with clients at its Waco and Marlin offices, as well as training staff members who frequently field questions about public transportation. “We invited staff from different departments to go ride on the bus . . . and they really felt much better about their ability to explain to the customers how do you put your money in the fare box, what does a bus pass look like, how to ring the bell to stop the bus, things like that,” Talbert said. Talbert added that local unemployment rates and high fuel prices cause more residents turn to public transportation to make needed job connections. The late-night bus route that services Sanderson Farms, a service called LINK that Workforce Solutions co-sponsored, has had record-high ridership in the past four months, Talbert said.

“It’s hard to have conversations about employment without being able to bring the supportive services that go with that, which are child care and transportation,” Talbert said. The travel training also allows Waco Transit to collect feedback on route planning and scheduling. Often, as staff members help training participants figure out what bus route best suits their needs, new riders ask about bus access to other destinations or adding more stops. “We always make sure we look at those suggestions from the public and see if it would work,” Thomas said. “With the routes, to add something you have to take something away, so its always a balance of where’s the most demand and what’s going to service the most amount of people, and this helps determine that.” rdennis@wacotrib.com   More information about travel training is available online at the Waco Transit website:  http://www.waco-texas.com/transit/answers.asp

Food For Families Drive-November 18^th

The Food For Families Drive is an annual one day food drive in which Caritas and other local food pantry s distributed a record breaking 403,500 pounds of food to needy families the Friday before Thanksgiving. That was 43,000 more than last year. The event was spear-headed by KWTX-TV and sponsored by H-E-B Food Stores, the Texas national Guard and the Boy Scouts of America. Our local food pantrys distribute food daily to people in need every day but this food drive was special because of the sheer amount of food that is given away in one day. There were a total of eleven food pantrys involved. The food drive is also apart of the National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week. Read more about the Food For Families Food Drive in the latest Caritas Newsletter or read the KWTX article

Food pantrys involved include:

Caritas

Store House Waco

Church of The Open Door

Loaves and Fishes

Saint Francis Social Ministry

Hands of Mercy

Lakeshore Baptist Church

Sheapards Heart

The Salvation Army

Just as I am Ministries

Bread of Life Food Pantry

Thank you to everyone for your support and involvement.

Farmers Market Grand Opening-November 19th

The Waco Farmers Market kicked off it’s grand opening last month with an impressive 2000 community members in attendance. The market was the result of over a years worth of planning and preparations . The market has a variety of local vendors that sell fresh and organic foods from all over central Texas . The market is open every Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Its located near the old fire tower and RV Park. The address is 400 South University Parks Drive . Visit the farmers market website at http://wacodowntownfarmersmarket.com

Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week-November 14th-20th

Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week is a nationwide effort to spread awareness of issues related to homelessness and hunger. The Mclennan County hunger Coalition partnered with various local non profits to spread awareness of hunger and homelessness. There was a letter writing campaign at World Cup Cafe & Common Grounds where many individuals could write to national, state and local government representatives, advocating help for those in need. The Salvation Army sponsored an event titled A Night Without Home where people could experience what it was like to be homeless. There was a dinner& movie at the Jubilee theater and an open mic night at Beatnix. The week ended with the Food For Families Food Drive and a visit from a mobile food pantry.

New Vistas-November 20^th

Two New Americorps VISTAs have joined the coalition! Zacary Bryan and Brett Case. Zac is using his VISTA term to strengthen the Urban Gardening Coalition’s capacity to provide support to gardening based community development projects here in Waco, including the establishment of an Urban Training Farm . Zac received both his masters and bachelors degrees from the University of North Texas. In his free time he enjoys playing guitar, learning about other cultures and contact Juggling.

Brett is using his term of VISTA service to grow the capacity of the coalition through indirect service. His duties include a variety of tasks from maintaining the website to developing programs and expanding coalition membership. He received his BA from the University of La Verne in Orange County California. In his free time he enjoys reading, writing, surfing and swimming.

Government statistics report the poverty rate for children is projected to reach 25 percent this year. It is estimated that before the recession there were fourteen million Americans living in poverty and the number has grown to sixteen million. For those of us in the business of social work and non profits these numbers are not surprising. We see these people every day but for many Americans these are issues that are just now coming into conversation, politics and everyday life. With the growing number of foreclosures and job cuts many Americans have been thrust into homelessness which the government defines as having temporary or no shelter at all. The children of these families have few options. The homeless shelters tend to split families up and for those families who cannot afford a motel or rent their only options include living in a car or sending their children to live with friends or family members. Many children who are in this situation are food insecure and as one child put it, “when my stomach hurts it feels like a growing black hole…I cant sleep, only for five minutes.” Even worse, some of these children feel it is their fault for the situation they are in. Sixty Minutes on CBS did a piece this past Sunday about the situation in Central Florida.

CBS News

The combination of lost jobs and millions of foreclosures means a lot of folks are homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives. One of the consequences of the recession that you don’t hear much about is the record number of children descending into poverty. The government considers a family of four to be impoverished if they take in less than $22,000 a year. Based on that standard, and the government projections of unemployment, it is estimated that the poverty rate for kids in this country will soon hit 25 percent

Read more

Click here to watch video

Such cool technology making great articles available to you via an online magazine. Thanks to the Baylor Lariat for doing suck a great job!

How do we as a Hunger Coalition combat type 2 diabetes in our communities? How can we start making inroads into our food deserts? There are many valid concerns about getting our people fed, but arguably getting them fed correctly and well should be of equal or greater importance.

More and more studies are showing that certain herbs are not only delicious but also seriously good for you. With the weather turning, what a better time to pursue your own herb garden?

This great interview with planetgreen.com lists some of the healthiest herbs, and gives you some great ideas for how to incorporate them into your diet.

Herbs are expensive,  yes, but growing them yourself  is a great idea!

One of our delightful partner organizations, the Heart of Texas Urban Gardening Coalition sends out a wonderful newsletter (go to their site and subscribe! ) which includes a list of upcoming workshops around town. At least a couple have to do with herbs!

Here is a list of the work shops. Click the links for more information!

Upcoming Events:

• 2/26 (Sa): Beyond the Backyard Garden Workshop. Rainwater Harvesting with Mary Lou (she has 30 rain barrels in her backyard!) 10am-12pm. Must pre-register, as this workshop is only open to the first 10 registrants.
• 2/26 (Sa): Herb Container Workshop at Bonnie’s Greenhouse. 10am-12pm. Workshop includes container, soil, plants, and handouts. Workshop costs $40. Call to register as class size is limited. (254) 799-7909

• 3/5 (Sa): Sedum Container Workshop at Bonnie’s Greenhouse. 10am-12pm. Workshop includes container, soil, plants, and handouts. Workshop costs $40. Call to register as class size is limited. (254) 799-7909

• 3/10 (Th): Mike Shoup from the Antique Rose Emporium will be speaking at Bonnie’s Greenhouse. 2pm. Workshop is free. For more information, call Sandra at (254) 799-7909
• 3/12 (Sa): Beyond the Backyard Garden Workshop. Garden Bed Preparation – Methods (including No-till) and Hands-on Digging. 10am-12pm. At the World Hunger Relief Farm – 356 Spring Lake Road.
• 3/17 (Th): Monthly UGC Meeting. Plan Global Youth Service Day/Harvest Celebration. 6pm. At the Mayborn Museum – 1300 S. University Parks Drive. Ask to be directed towards the Community Room in the Discovery Center Wing – that’s where we’ll be!
• 3/18 (Fr): Foxfire Friday – Herbs! 5pm. At Hope Fellowship – 1721 Sanger Ave (the big green/gray house!) Learn how to make herbal salves and tinctures as well as which herbs are good for what. Led by Elise Voyvodic.

But we are not the only ones!

People all over the country are waking up to the issues that hunger and food insecurity present to us as citizens. Worried about your taxes being too high? Preventative measures NOW will make higher taxes in the future less of a certainty.

Check out this article on NPR comparing school lunches around the world.

Also, check out these great blogs highlighting individuals who are striving to combat our school lunch issues:

The Organic School Project

Fed up with school lunch

Also, thinking a long the lines of addressing both issues, wouldn’t it be wonderful for McLennan County to support a Farm to School lunch program? I love innovation. I love stepping outside the box. I love the idea that food can be rich, fresh, nourishing, and available.

The Hunger Coalition is  hard at work on some strategic planning looking at the upcoming year. Stay tuned for more information.

Big News!

MLK Day is here again!

Monday, January 17th, is MLK Day and there will be some great events going on around town in celebration. Our very own HOT Urban Gardening Coalition has a number of wonderful garden sites that need planting, tilling, and tending. Find a site and sign up on the UGC website by going here.

As the Holidays are upon us, we at the Hunger Coalition would like to take this chance to thank you for all that you do. If you come to this website, it is because you have endeavoured or are endeavoring to make our community a better place. Thank you for your wonderful hearts and your willingness to give.

We urge you to think about the truth behind this season. Regardless of your method of celebration, there are common undercurrents: food, family, comfort, and joy.

Please take time this season to remember those who are with out these essential aspects of holiday. There are many who daily share our community who will be without food this Christmas; many who will be without shelter. Take some time to remember those who need.

We wish for you the merriest of festivals. We wish for you food, shelter, warmth, and family.

We wish for you comfort and joy. Comfort and joy.

Letters!

We received the gift of some wonderful photographs documenting our experiences back in November for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. We thought we’d share them with you.

Enjoy!

Rachel (a Caritas intern) shows up to write a letter!

Many thanks to World Cup Cafe for all their help!

Hunger Coalition Chairperson, Kenneth Moerbe at the Night Without a Home

Our deepest thanks to everyone who came out to participate. We hope to see all of you next year!

A little recap of events:

Our letter writing campaign on Monday went off really well. Thank you to all the letter writers! We will be mailing your petitions to our representatives soon! Thanks to Common Grounds and World Cup Cafe for being such gracious hosts.

We had a small, but familial turn out for our One Night without a Home event. We enjoyed a meal at Salvation Army and a brisk walk to Columbus Avenue Baptist Church. There we heard testimony from several members of our community regarding their struggles and journeys. Eventually we all bedded down and “slept” through quite a cold evening, only to wake up bright and early and enjoy breakfast and coffee with come of neighbors at First Lutheran Church. Thank you so much, Salvation Army, Columbus Avenue, First Lutheran, and Baylor University Campus Kitchen for all of your graciousness.

On Wednesday there was a showing of the recent documentary “Easy Street” at Mission Waco’s newly remodeled Jubilee Theater! How fun! We had a good turn out and a good time and enjoyed a fascinating film.

Thursday night found the majority of us at Beatnix Burger Barn (You all should go there for some seriously good burgers. Seriously.) for Open Mic Night. An awesome time. Thanks to everyone who participated.

As we closed out the week we encouraged everyone to participate by donating to the Food For Families Food drive, the single largest food drive in our area, and be aware of the Capital Area Food Bank Wheels of Sharing Mobile Food Pantry which comes to Shepherd’s Heart Pantry every third Saturday of the month.

Texas is one of the hungriest states in the nation. As we plow through these uncertain economic times, awareness efforts such as these are not aimed at making you uncomfortable, but rather at giving visibility to those in our community that are being effected. It isn’t about comfort or discomfort, it’s about community. Let us keep remembering that we are a hungry city, a hungry county, and a hungry state.

Thank you again for all your efforts. Please keep an eye out next year for bigger and better things.

Be active in the life of your community.

Click the link below for the official flyer and schedule.

MCHC Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

If you have any questions, please use the contact feature on the website and send them our way!

Check us out in the Waco Tribune-Herald!

www.worldhungerrelief.org

I apologize for the lapse between postings, but it has been quite the adjustment these last two months. I hope you will start coming here for your information as we post more and more through the upcoming months.

As we speed into Winter, we are in full swing here at the Hunger Coalition. We have entitled this time “The Season of Awareness and Hope”, and there is so much going on in our community! Please take a look at the “Upcoming events” box in the right hand column for a list of ways you can participate.

“We  know that a peaceful world cannot exist with one-third rich and two-thirds hungry.”  – Jimmy Carter

Thanks to Neil, we have this wonderful website full of great facts and resources. I hope to be able to continue his efforts and provide you with lots of information about the issue of hunger as a whole and what we here at MCHC are doing to combat it. However, not being nearly as tech savvy as Neil, you will have to forgive me if things seem a little off kilter at first. I promise to work very hard to get my tech skills up to snuff.

Thanks for having me!

Ellie

Hazelnuts seem to have a surprising number of good uses

A new grant has been awarded which will help to fund research in making the hazelnut potentially more crucial as an important food item, with multiple uses for the people that produce them, and for those who use them throughout the world. In particular, the aim includes an effort towards making the Hazelnut production levels increase in America (where currently only 5% of hazelnut production occurs) so that it can become a more commonly produced product here in the US.

According to researchers, the potential is huge. Apparently Hazelnuts will work on multiple levels: 1) They work as a nut (food item), 2) They can be used for cooking oils, and 3) they could be used as alternative fuel!

You read that last part right. And once the oil is removed, it can still be used as feedstock because removing the bio-diesel energy will not take away the hazelnut’s high protein source.

In other words, we could see an increase in produced Hazelnuts for both food and for fuel. Either way, it should be a win for the environment and for production of this food product.The only downside? It takes years to produce. It’s time to get started.

To read more about this subject please visit: ABC – Hazelnuts, not only for Food, but Fuel

New Report suggests a healthier means of Eating Fast Food…

In an Interesting Way.

According to a report written by Dr. Darrel Francis for the American Journal of Cardiology the best way for fast food providers to stay health-concise of their many, many consumers would be to offer a medicine along with the food  they offer, something which would help to counter-balance the so often unhealthy food which is provided by these restaurants: such as the cholesterol lowering drugs known as statin. This would apparently offer customers an opportunity to lower their cholesterol back down to the levels they were at prior to eating up a Big Mac, Large Fries, and drinking a large Soda.

This is certainly not a normal thing to suggest for a healthier alternative to eating fast food. In fact, it seems to encourage unhealthy eating. And what fast food restaurant would want to give drugs with their food?  It would most likely diminish sales, and scare customers.  Can anyone picture a fast food employee asking someone “So, will that be three double cheeseburgers, two large fries, a milkshake, a large soda, three cookies, and some medicine that will help lower the bad cholesterol you’ll have after eating this meal — or would you just like a heart attack to go with that?”

Is this suggestion really helping to curve the bad practices of these major food chains or is even the suggestion simply saying that no healthy alternative will ever be in sight, and we should just accept the unhealthy food by taking more medicine? Even then, this would make people even more unhealthy ultimately, and is surely not what everyone wants. The whole notion is surprising given the fact these medicines are by prescription-only and are not proven to be effective on all people, but the idea is still being suggested by someone, which makes one wonder if or when something of the sort may ever have a chance to occur. While people have certainly taken some strong strides in attempting to eat healthier, it also appears to be that many citizens still have a long way to go.

For more information please see this article.

Note: So what do you think about this matter? Please share your thoughts with us — we would love to know!

The United States Senate has made cuts to funding for the national SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), formerly known as Food Stamps.

The funding cuts were considered just earlier last week and the decided amount to be cut is 12 billion. Instead of maintaining this amount of SNAP funding the Senate has passed two bills which will be funded using the funds made available by cutting back on the  currently available SNAP support.

One of these newly passed bills is for the Child Nutrition Re-authorization, and another bill will help school teachers throughout the nation.

For more information, please visit The Washington Post.

What do you think of this news?

Please share your comments with us, and join in on the discussion.

Grande Communications representatives were present at the McLennan County Hunger Coalition meeting yesterday, Thursday, August 12th, 2010 to present the coalition with a large check, which when given helped to recognize both their support of the coalition and helped to demonstrate the good work being done by the Coalition in supporting our Summer Feeding “Have Lunch on Us” program, which provides parents with meals who are accompanying their children to participating Summer Feeding Program sites through August 20th.

Please take a look ( left image) to see Grande Communications representatives presenting the Check for the Passion and Commitment Grant Award supporting the McLennan County Hunger Coalition.

Please be aware that next month (September) is “Hunger Action Month”.

To find out more information about this month’s effort and the activities presented through Feeding America please see below to take a pledge against hunger for the month of September:

Have ideas for how you would like to see the Hunger Coalition participate in Hunger Action Month? Then please share them by leaving a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!

Instead of taking the time out of your schedule to visit your local health department to complete an in-person course for Food Handling Certification, this training course can now be taken online and you will receive the same form of certification, which is now officially being accepted anywhere within the Texas state! This will make things even easier for you as a member of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition to become involved in these food rescue opportunities!

This new training option could significantly reduce the amount of time required to spend on this course. For one, even if in the end it takes approximately just as long in order to complete the course it can be done at any time of the day and can be paused whenever you’d like. If  you want to work on it for 20 minutes and then return the next day to work on it some more all you need to do is save your progress, remember your log-in information, and return when you plan on continuing. This could be a big benefit for you if this would be a more appropriate possibility for fitting the course into your ‘already likely to be busy’ schedule.

As another benefit worth noting, this nationally approved exam could also help to jump-start a career in food handling somewhere. You just never do know how this could come in use in the future.

All you need to get started is to visit: TexasFoodHandler.com, which is run as a service of Safeway Certifications, a site which offers a number of certification options and begin the registration process in order to begin working on the Food Handler’s course.

This quality training costs $35 to complete. $15 is the cost for the certification training (as posted by the city of Waco), and $20 is a certification registration fee collected on behalf of Waco. There is a cost associated with training at the health department too so this may still
be something worthwhile for you if the idea is preferable to complete the training online.

Please note that in total the course is expected to take around 1 hour and 15 minutes (on average).

The McLennan County Hunger Coalition looks forward to seeing many more Food Rescue volunteers through this exciting opportunity. See you soon, rescuing food, and aiding those most in need!

Tomorrow is our FINAL fund-raising date, as indicated above, and we welcome you to partake in the fun one more time (or for a FIRST and FINAL time, if you haven’t participated just yet).

This final fundraiser will run all day tomorrow at the Baylor Pizza Hut (1111 S. 8th Street).

Simply print and present the flyer promoting the fund-raising event (see attached) and you have your ticket to 20% being donated to the coalition.

Or you can also visit Pizza Hut Online at http://www.pizzahut.com. Choose the Baylor location and select “Pay by Cash” in order to pay for the meal (and present the flyer) during delivery.

We hope to see you there… one last time!

Grande Communications has given the McLennan County Hunger Coalition a Passion and Commitment Grant. The grant is being used for the coalition to sponsor the “Have Lunch on Us” program (which provides parents accompanying their children with free meals)  during the Summer Feeding Program at select site locations. All Children 18 and under receive free meals during the SFP all summer long, but many times parents are unable to eat with their children, which leads to a decrease in overall participation. The McLennan County Hunger Coalition believes that by providing these parents with free lunches that they can eat and enjoy with their children participation will increase at the participating sites. This is the third year the McLennan County Hunger Coalition has sponsored free parent meals (having provided over 600 meals to parents in previous years).

The “Have lunch on us” program runs July 9th through August 20th.

In North Waco the participating location is Provident Heights Elementary location 2415 Bosque Boulevard which serves lunch from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Tuesday and Thursday.

In South Waco the participating location is the Bell’s Hill Elementary location 2125 Cleveland Avenue, and is also serving lunch between the 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM and on both Tuesday/Thursday.

In East Waco there are two participating sites. Wesley United Methodist Church, located at 125 Turner Street, serves Tuesday and Thursday beginning at around 11:00 AM. The Estella Maxey Apartment Complex area location ‘Restoration Haven’, located at 1112 Calumet Street, will be providing meals to parents five days a week and meals are served from 12:00 – 12:30 PM.

The “Have Lunch on Us” program is  financially supported by the Grande Communications Passion and Commitment Grant which was received in the amount of $3,500. W.I.S.D. Child Nutrition Services oversees the local Summer Feeding Program effort.

Ever feel the need to speak your mind to all the fellow members of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition? Ever think about the possibility of sharing your thoughts on hunger in our community? Whether you are a current member of the MCHC, someone who wants to join our efforts towards alleviating hunger insecurity, or if you  are just a visiting member from the community in which we serve who wants to share thoughts on  important issues, the online forum is a great place to open up and let people know your opinions and ideas! We encourage each and every one of you to participate and join today. It only takes a few minutes to register and then you can get started in helping us to  establish an online community for everyone to participate in while working together towards resolving issues of hunger facing McLennan citizens.

See you there,

Neil Lumbard

McLennan County Hunger Coalition VISTA

Support the efforts of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition by buying some Pizza! Mmmmm.... Tasty!

How do you support the coalition through your own hunger needs? It’s a simple process, really. We have a flier promoting our Pizza Hut fund-raising event (which can be downloaded here ). It’s your ticket to 20% of an orders cost being donated to our coalition. Orders can be placed at any time of day on the  dates listed below.

Pizza Hut Fundraiser Dates:

Thursdays in July: 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th

Location:

Baylor Pizza Hut

1111 S. 8th Street

254-756-2320

Time of Day:

All Day Long!

What kind of orders are accepted for the fund-raiser?

Dine-In, Delivery, and Carryout Orders. Your choice!

Order on all of the listed dates or pick and choose the best dates for you. Please place the flier on your fridge as a reminder of these Pizza Day’s, and mark your calendars folks! The more food ordered on these dates the more the Hunger Coalition will be able to receive from this fund-raising.

Don’t forget that orders for Dine-In, Delivery, or Carryout will all be counted towards the fund-raiser for the coalition. And again, simply present the fund-raiser flier for 20% to be donated to the coalition. There is no other cost to you… other than the price you pay for a tasty Pizza meal for your friends and family!

If you or someone you know wants to participate in these activities we gladly invite you to come join us (especially for the interested youth)! For more information, please contact HOTUGC VISTA Bethel Erickson at vista@worldhungerrelief.org

Note:Please consider donating extra produce or baked goods for the event. If you are an interested individual, farmer, producer, or associated with someone who may be interested in donating e-mail Bethel and provide her with any information about your desired form of contribution today.

The McLennan County Hunger Coalition received a major honor this past Saturday. We wanted to share this information with our coalition members, and visitors: The City of Waco declared May 22nd of 2010 as “McLennan County Hunger Coalition Day”!

Read the proclamation: “I, Jim Bush, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Waco, Texas, do hereby Proclaim: May 22, 2010 as “McLennan County Hunger Coalition Day” in the city of Waco, and urge the people of Waco to join with the City Council, the City staff, and me in recognizing the efforts of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition and its citizen volunteers with the Summer Food Service Program. More than 28,000 children in McLennan County receive nutritious foods meals during the school year. The Summer Food Program fills the hunger gap by providing meals and snacks. In the Summer of 2009 only 6.7% of eligible children participated. We commend the coalition in raising awareness of 2010 Summer sites: Provident Heights Elementary, Brazos Middle School, West Avenue Elementary, Brook Avenue Elementary, Sul Ross Elementary, Bell’s ill Elementary, and Doris Miller YMCA. We also thank Waco ISD Nutrition Services and other community groups that provide healthy meals to our children.”

Sites Operating June 7th to July 9th, and from June 7th to August 20th.

As of this morning/early afternoon (Friday, May 21st, 2010) the posters for the 2010 Summer Feeding Program (“Hunger Doesn’t take a Summer Break” ) are available for pick-up by organizations interested in promoting the site locations (through listing both school sites and other feeding sites).  Both non-profit and for-profit businesses can work to build up the awareness level of these crucial community opportunities for summer feeding this year. We have posters available in both English and Spanish language and are happy to provide those who request them with the amount that is needed.

Please send us an e-mail at vista@mclennanhunger.org (or use our websites handy contact form) to get in touch with us about the number of posters requested for your location.

To see examples of these beautiful posters that can soon be “Yours to Display!” please download these PDF versions as linked to below (and feel free to forward them on to any organizations, non-profit or for-profit, that may desire to also receive Summer Feeding Program promotional posters):

Eat for Free Poster (English) /  Eat for Free Poster (Spanish)

Recently, I applied to the Baylor Internet Technology Department to seek possible donations for two PC’s and the equipment we would need to use with them.

Our wish has been granted. We are now the proud owners of some computer machinery that can effectively help us to continue our outreach goals towards ending hunger insecurity within our great McLennan community.

These computers have been generously donated by Baylor University, so we felt a special thank you was in hand for them showing their support to this truly important cause. This is us saying thanks: We appreciate it!

Sincerely,

Neil D. Lumbard

McLennan County Hunger Coalition VISTA

Would you like to volunteer to help promote the Summer Feeding Program? Time is officially running out to RSVP for this wonderful opportunity that awaits you. Please consider the possibility of working with us to help promote the nearest Feeding Sites for this year’s program.

Our Block Walk begins Saturday Morning at 9 AM with an orientation. At 9:30 AM we will begin walking and hanging up door hangers, as well as passing out information, in order to raise community awareness.

Please RSVP today letting us know if you can make it to one of the following site locations for tomorrow’s Day of Outreach. We would also like to hear from you about any friends/family you may plan on bringing along with you to help. We need to know how many are attending so we can prepare enough maps and ensure that the door hangers and information are divided for pairs as best as possible.

We are meeting at the following site locations at 9 AM — please let me know which site you will be attending (and feel free to mention/bring as many friends as you wish,  to volunteer as well). We need to get an idea on this because everyone will have a partner and a map to go door to door with the materials. If you would prefer to drive to business locations and hang flyers let us know this as well and we can allow for this to happen based upon your indicated preference.

South Waco volunteers will meet at:

Cotton Palace park located at S.12^th and Clay Avenue across from Talitha Koum.

North Waco volunteers will meet at:

Calvary Baptist Church in the Parking Lot. The church is “located at the intersection of North 18th Street, Bosque Boulevard, and Homan Avenue, in the center of the 76707 zip code area of Waco, Texas.”

East Waco volunteers will meet at :

Toliver Chapel Baptist Church

Here is the Address Information for that location:

1402 Elm Street
Waco, TX 76704-3106
(254) 799-2181

As a suggestion I recommend using Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) to find some directions to these locations.

Each child received the following on the first weekend (subsequent weekends have had some of the same items, in addition to substitute items so that children can have s0me additional variety):

Cheddar Cheese crackers (2)
Ramen Noodles (1)
Small box of Cereal (2),
Fiber One Bar (1)
Pudding cup (1)
Juice (2)
Fruit cup (2)
Tuna Lunch to Go (1)
+ (Plus) a variety of assorted fruits!

Thank you for continuing to support the efforts of our coalition, and for visiting the website for the latest news and information! Please feel free to leave us a comment. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the Backpack Pilot Program.

From left to right: Neil Lumbard, Chelle Samaniego, Esther Morales

The Stop Hunger Texas 8th Annual Charity Golf Tournament benefiting the McLennan County Hunger Coalition was a wonderful success for the coalition’s efforts! We would like to thank our wonderful sponsors, Oak Farms and Sodexo, and all of the players who joined us in playing golf for a joyous day of good fun, and for their worthy investment in this important charity work!

For

more

tournament

pictures

please

visit

the

events

page!

The Tournament was held at The Lakes Country Club on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 and there was a great turnout as far as tournament registration for the event. There were also a large number of  McLennan County Hunger Coalition volunteers present to support the efforts of the coalition throughout the day. We appreciate the membership support!

We will update this information when a final number for funds raised from the tournament is ready to be reported.

Take a look at this wonderful pic! And notice how Kenneth has a beard! We wanted to share this wonderful picture. Enjoy!

]]> http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?feed=rss2&p=75 0 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=70 http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=70#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:39:04 +0000 Hunger Coalition http://www.mclennanhunger.org/?p=70 Dear MCHC Members and Visitors,

Seeing is Believing.

Today I would like to share with you some pictures of food rescue efforts from coalition chairperson Kenneth Moerbe.

This food was rescued from Parks Family Restaurant and delivered to the Salvation Army the same day. This rescued food provided a good variety in the food available for the Salvation Army’s supper. Around a dozen large containers and seven smaller containers were used in order to rescue this food.  This should be viewed as an example of how much importance lies in our coalition’s ongoing food rescue efforts. However, we are always on the lookout for more volunteers to aid us in these efforts. Therefore, if you would like to participate or know someone who you believe would be up for volunteering please contact the McLennan County Hunger Coalition at 254-753-3545 for more information. You may also reach us using the contact form on the website and specify that you are seeking information on how to help with food rescue, or you can even leave a comment on this story and we will get back to you with more information on ways you can contribute.

To the side of this information is another view of this Rescued Food.

Thank you again for your continued support of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition!

Remember: If you would like to contribute to Food Rescue Efforts call 254-753-3545.

With Kind Regards,

Neil D. Lumbard (MCHC VISTA)

GoodSearch will donate a $1 for every toolbar that is downloaded between April 6th at 9am Eastern and April 9th at 9am Eastern up to $5,000!! Please download the toolbar right now by clicking this link.

Our new McLennan County Hunger Coalition toolbar is free to download and allows you to raise money for our cause every time you search or shop online! Once added to IE or Firefox, each time you shop at more than 1,300 stores (from Amazon to Zazzle!) a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to the McLennan County Hunger Coalition at no cost to you (and you may even save money, as the toolbar provides coupons and deals as well!). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, a penny is donated to the McLennan County Hunger Coalition.

Please hurry and do this now so that we can earn the $1 bonus per toolbar!

And, please pass this along to all of your friends. The two minutes it takes to add this toolbar to your browser can make a lifetime of a difference for our cause!

Click here to get the toolbar NOW!

A new report from the State Auditor’s has been created in regards to the Food Stamp/SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) eligibility system. This report was released officially from the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) on Tuesday, March 30th, and gives information in the form of a blueprint, one which will be used towards restoring access to SNAP benefits by creating a fix to the state system of eligibility determination and enrollment for benefits. In addition, It will also help solve problems with eligibility and enrollment concerning Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

The audit was made as a result of a request made from Health and Human Service’s Commission Executive Commissioner, in order to inform his efforts in bringing change to the SNAP application process and end the severe delays tens of thousands of applicants received. These delays in receiving SNAP benefits affected entire families who have struggled during this severe economic climate.

The McLennan County Hunger Coalition is excited by this breaking news-story concerning efforts to improve access to Food Stamp benefits. We view this as positive news, as this blue-print concerns the commitment that is in place for fixing the benefits eligibility system and should end up helping all Texans, and therefore McLennan citizens, who are in need of help now more so than ever during these hardship’s facing our community members today.

Visit the links below for more information:

The Audit Report

Statement from CPPP

This walk is a part of “Live Your Best Life” and is sponsored in part by The Oprah Magazine (which is hosting the walk). Ten charities were chosen for the walk to support and over 30,000 people are expected to join Oprah in participation for this event.

If you can make the event, please register for the “Live Your Best Life” Walk here. You can also find more information on the walk and Share Our Strength by visiting that page.

The Share Our Strength goal is to end child-hood hunger by 2015. As this is a goal correlates with the Texas Hunger Initiative goal to make all of Texas food secure by 2015 (thus providing adequate healthy meals to children three times a day/seven days a week) we felt this would be an interesting event to bring some added awareness to for our coalition readers.

This alarming nutrition facts panel serves as documented evidence that paying attention to nutrition is important.

The month of March is almost over, and yet there is still time to reflect on National Nutrition Month as the campaign comes to it’s yearly close. We at the MCHC would like to remind folks in McLennan of the importance of good nutrition.

The National Nutrition Month campaign is sponsored by the American Dietetic Association. The organization aims to make individuals and families across the nation aware of how essential good food choices can be in leading a healthy lifestyle. Maintaining a regular schedule for physical activity and bringing those behaviors into a regular habitual pattern is important as part of the process required for maintaining physical well being and balance between all aspect of ones life in finding what is necessary for proper nutrition.

The title of this year’s campaign has been “Nutrition from the ground up.” It is never too late to start a campaign for change. Whether one begins this March (or in April) with the activities and ideas suggested from the National Nutrition campaign.

For more information on starting a lifestyle with balanced nutrition, please visit the National Nutrition Month Website.

Give a Pound. Gain a Pound.

Did you know you could be contributing food to the local Caritas and Mission Waco food banks with no cost directly attributed to yourself?

Scratch that. It is directly attributed to yourself, and not to the cash in your bank account, or the dollar bills in your wallet. It’s the weight that you lose.

I’ll wager that some of you were already aware of Baylor’s Pound for Poundage program but since many of you may not have been, here is the information you need to know to begin your food pantry contribution:

All you need is a pledge and the will-power to lose a pound (or several) for a pound of food to be donated (or several)!

Open the following page in a new window or tab:

Baylor Fitness Challenge

Then find the “fitness” tab on the site displayed and find the button for “Pound for Poundage”. After that you make your pledge. It’s as simple as that.

The final step you’ll need to take is to e-mail fitness@baylor.edu and give them the following information:

The Subject Line Must State “Pound for Pound”

Inside the body of the e-mail include this information: Your Name, Starting Weight, and Date of Pledge

Note: When making a pledge the food bank displayed is Capital Area Food Bank of Austin. That is the Food Bank that will be delivering food to Caritas and Mission Waco.

Census Day – April 1st, 2010 – is just 21 short days away from now. It is of the up-most importance that awareness is raised during that time. Let every voice be heard.

To view a recorded Webinar for the Census entitled: “Counting Every Child So Every Child Counts” please visit this website.

Please forward this information along to anyone who might find this of interest.

Here are some links for Dora the Explorer fact Sheets from Census 2010 (in association with Nickelodeon) to hang up or pass around to others:

Click Here for English Language Dora the Explorer Fact Sheet

Click Here for Spanish Language Dora the Explorer Fact Sheet

It’s that time of… decade.

Believe it or not, we are finally at the new Census for Texas. The McLennan County Hunger Coalition was represented at the 2010

Kick Off Breakfast event this Tuesday, March 2nd, where non-profit organizations from around the area were brought together at the City of Waco Quinn Campus. We had several members in attendance and chairperson Kenneth Moerbe and myself (as VISTA member for the coalition) were both in attendance for these proceedings.

Are you being counted? The 2010 Census is here.

The event was primarily to bring forth more awareness of the 2010 Census. How often is it that people forget to fill out their Census or simply are unaware that it is, you know, actually that time of decade? One of the goals of the breakfast was clearly to bring awareness to the need for promotion of the Census from Non-profits to clients.

We are prepared to make that awareness a reality of our coalition. We have the fliers, the posters, the pins, and other promotional materials. I even have a coffee cup. I don’t drink much coffee, but it could always be used for water. Or perhaps it could even be given to someone who does drink coffee and will use it on a daily basis to unknowingly promote the census as said individual groggily poors their daily cup of joe, yawns, and heads to work.

No matter the case of the coffee cup in question, the point is clear: the 2010 Census is upon us. Are you being counted?

Note: Please leave a comment! We would love to hear from our members and visitors about how you plan to help promote the 2010 Census.

Now, an important question that many folks may feel the need to ask is: Can poverty, in fact, be eliminated altogether? The answer is complex. We will always need certain security measures in place to ensure that the disenfranchised and ignored members of our society receive the benefits they deserve. And at the same time, poverty can be eliminated through the efforts of those who truly care about the well-being of others. It is an ongoing effort. And true success in bringing down the poverty levels of McLennan will come slowly. Nothing this ambitious happens overnight. However, it is a work in progress that we can all learn to work towards together in total unity.

Many moving stories were shared during the evening of the event. Ideas were also presented in fresh and exciting ways. One such idea, that made an interesting impression on me, was a new take on a classic story of aiding another. The idea of catching a fish for a man being less useful than teaching said man to fish… was given an interesting twist ending: what if the man can’t fish at the pond because he isn’t even allowed to? The powerful metaphor was made clear: Some people remain in poverty not because they are incapable of doing stellar work, but because they aren’t even given the opportunity to. There is a shocking amount of poverty that is a direct result of this very problem. We all know this is true, but unfortunately it sometimes takes a witty alteration to an important message to drive the point home.

It is with supreme confidence that I say that I felt this Banquet was extremely important to our community. I had never before been surrounded by so many influential and important people. These community members are the key – to not only the talk of change, but the actual path we will pave to a new and brighter tomorrow. Kenneth Moerbe, chairperson of the McLennan County Hunger Coalition, made one point devastatingly clear in the final speech of the night: The people in attendance and making up this core group of individuals in the Ferrell Center are the people responsible for bringing this change to McLennan citizens, to work together to make poverty truly end in Waco and McLennan. It is our responsibility to make that change happen, and it need’s to be done with immediacy and true dedication.

We can all learn from Moerbe’s statement. We can always do better. And we must always dedicate ourselves to making changes that are the most important and necessary ones for the benefit of us all.

I welcome you to the brand new website for the McLennan County Hunger Coalition. I am extremely enthusiastic about what this new site will mean for the coalition as it builds our mission through online connectivity and fund-raising.  We can utilize this online presence to help meet the needs of our McLennan community citizens.

There are a number of new features to explore. You can find the History of our Coalition and it’s related projects (such as HELPINGS: Food Stamp Outreach), news reports on current and upcoming events, even learn about the funding of the coalition, and see a schedule of our meetings and other important dates. There’s more too.  Take a look, and see for yourself why this new website will be an important source for Coalition-related information.

With Best Regards,

Neil D. Lumbard