Onward with Facing Hunger in America!

If you’ve been following the adventures of Facing Hunger in America, perhaps you’d like a brief status update.  So far, we have visited a total of about 60 programs in 37 states plus DC.

Right now, we’re getting ready to travel again, this time to programs in 4 states in the northeast, followed by 9 states in the southwest.  By the end of May, we expect to have finished our survey of hunger-related organizations across the country.  Following these final visits, we’ll transition to spreading the word about what we’ve found and working for needed change.

Actually, the word’s already being spread – at least 3 articles have been published about our project.  The first was published in the spring 2011 issue of the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic magazine, Horizons, page 27.  Last spring, when we visited this comprehensive clinic, we volunteered at TURTLE Camp, their innovative day camp for Native American children ages 5-18 that teaches healthy eating.  Children learn about portion control, learn to distinguish between “everyday” and “sometimes” foods, and practice the importance of physical activity to help with weight control and diabetes prevention.  While we were there, in a turn of the tables from us interviewing them, we were interviewed by Steve Barse for an article in the Horizons magazine.  This picture of Betsy was taken by their photographer and published in the article. 

The second article was published in the Duluth News Tribune Budgeteer of June 26, 2011, as a result of the well-attended talk we gave at First United Methodist Church in Duluth, MN.  Finally, when we were in Seattle in August, we volunteered sorting dented cans of vegetables at Food Lifeline, the Seattle area food bank.  Staff we met there were also intrigued by Facing Hunger in America, and included an article about us in the Food Lifeline Fall 2011 newsletter, page 5.  Here’s the photo of Carolyn that was included in that article.

In addition to the three news stories, our blog, and informal presentations to many small gatherings, we’ve also given eight talks to groups in these locations:

• University United Methodist Church, Chapel Hill, NC – October 24, 2010
• St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church, Acton, MA – November 21, 2010, and October 1, 2011
• Beaver Memorial United Methodist Church, Lewisburg, PA – Feb 13, 2011
• West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church Annual Conference – June 4, 2011
• First United Methodist Church, Duluth, MN – June 19, 2011
• Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society, Missoula, MT – July 6, 2011
• Kent First Presbyterian Church, Kent, WA – August 14, 2011

If your group would like to learn more about the charitable and federal food safety nets and what works best to attack the problem of hunger in America, perhaps we could arrange a speaking engagement.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a project to complete!