High Prices = Low Nutrition

With food costs rising - and the price of healthy food rising fastest - low income Texans are running out of options to eat healthy. 

The Texas anti hunger community is fighting back with education and access. NBC 5 in Dallas recently profiled the work of the Tarrant Area Food Bank's Operation Frontline, which teaches families how to shop and eat healthy - and on the cheap. 

Meanwhile, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples took a moment last week to encourage parents to sign their children up for school meals, our state's most abundant source of low-cost, regulated nutrition for growing minds.

Fighting Ike

Food banks across Texas are gearing up today to feed what some commentators are calling the largest forced migration in Texas history. 

Refugees from Corpus Christi to Houston are traveling inland to escape Hurricane Ike, leaving behind precious resources and food.  

Food Banks are prepared to supply meals for up to 40,000 refugees in San Antonio, 20,000 in Austin, and 6,000 in Tyler, while the support of other food banks is being coordinated by the Texas Food Bank Network's presence at the emergency management center in Austin. 

September 10th is historically the peak of the hurricane season. For the sake of low-income Texans, let's hope Ike is the last of this year's disasters.

Social Media to Feed the Hungry?

For those who smugly ask themselves questions like "What do blogs really accomplish?" and "What is a Twitter, and why should I follow you on it?," here is a great example of the power of social media to affect change in the real world. 

Two weeks ago, Tyson Foods announced via its anti-hunger blog that they would donate 100 pounds of chicken for every blog comment they received that day. 

The web team at the Capital Area Food Bank sprang into action, reposting Tyson's challenge to their own blog and putting out a call for help via several employees' Twitter feeds. As tends to happen in social networks, friends told friends - who told friends - and by the end of the day Tyson announced the donation of an entire truckload of chicken to the food bank!

Watch a video of Food Bank CEO David Davenport talking about the donation. 

Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation

As summer winds down, so do many programs that strive to feed low-income children when they have no access to nutritious school meals.

KETK in East Texas reports that the East Texas Food Bank's Summer Food Program is closing the books on a record year, in which it fed about 1,600 children per day. That's a 12% increase over the previous year, pointing to the increased demand schools can expect this fall of the USDA's free and reduced-price lunch program.

Luckily, Texas schools are helping families sign up for this federal program, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Unluckily, the skyrocketing price of food is ravaging the program's already strained budget, forcing schools to charge more and deliver less, according to congressional testimony heard earlier this summer. 

Proper nutrition has been proven time and again to increase test scores and lower bad behavior in school. When the price of food affects our ability to feed our children, what does that say about our priorities?

85% Spike in Need Strips San Antonio Shelves Bare

It's been a rough summer in San Antonio for hungry families.

“In the news media, when there was a debate of whether there was a recession, I had no question. We saw it here all the time,” said Eric Cooper, executive director of the San Antonio Food Bank. “People are underemployed. They cannot afford the cost of food and their increased expenses.”

The food bank's fiscal year ending in June saw an 85% increase over the previous year, with only a 4% increase in donations, according to the San Antonio Express News. Likewise, 10,000 more San Antonians were forced to turn to food stamps this year to make ends meet.

The paper responded with an editorial calling on San Antonians to give, and reminding them that hunger doesn't take a vacation. 

“Even though we are not dealing with a natural disaster, we are dealing with a disaster nonetheless,” said Zuani Villarreal, the the food bank's director of development.

Hunger Relief Gets a Leg up on Gustav

The Texas anti-hunger community didn't have much of a vacation this weekend, as many agencies worked around the clock to prepare for refugees from Hurricane Gustav. 

Food Banks from across Texas rallied their communities to ship emergency "family boxes" to affected areas. The East Texas Food Bank alone delivered 26,016 pounds of food to 12 shelters over the course of the hurricane (1, 2). 

Recognizing the central need for hunger relief during natural disasters, food banks were joined by students in Amarillo, GOP convention-watchers in Dallas, and even a Hurricane Katrina refugee to feed those fleeing the gulf. 

Now the real work begins! Just like Hurricane Dolly, first responders tend to draw down before the flood waters recede and the refugees can go home. Food banks are now looking for ways to provide meals - and especially snacks - to the hundreds of refugee families still stuck in Texas. 

Consider it part of your Hunger Action Month duties - if you have money or food to spare, consider donating to these hard-working orgs!

Update: As of September 4th, the East Texas Food Bank has distributed 34,765 pounds to Gustav refugees.

Hunger Action Month Begins!

September is Hunger Action Month in Texas and across the country - with an emphasis on "action!" Consider this a reminder that outraged blog posts and lonely RSS browsing and are no substitute for the real-world action needed to end hunger.

But what can you do from your desktop computer? More than you'd expect...

1. Make it official with cardboard - Take a photo of yourself with a sign saying "Hunger is Unacceptable" and upload it here. See how many other Texans share the sentiment!
2. Join the crowd - Sign up for regular advocacy alerts from the Texas Food Bank Network and Feeding America, the nation's network of food banks.
   
3. Tweet up - Are you in Austin and on Twitter? (Is that a redundant question?) If so, sign up for a volunteer tweet-up at the Capital Area Food Bank Sept. 11th & 13th!
4. Take the food stamps challenge - Are you in East Texas? Take the East Texas Food Bank's Food Stamps Challenge and gain an appreciation for the sacrifices that come with hunger.
5. Not in Texas at all? Your loss. But you can find many more events in your home state here.