New and Noteworthy

How Does Our Garden Grow?

The Coalition is pleased to announce the opening of the community garden at the Kingsessing Recreation Center, located at 4901 Kingsessing Ave. in West Philadelphia. Americorps VISTAs Meghan McCracken and Stacy Holdren designed the garden, but the creation of it was a real community effort. Neighborhood children helped to build beds, plant flowers and vegetables, and decorate the garden that they now call their own. The garden has already started to flourish with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and kale, which has been donated to the Crusaders for Christ Food Pantry just down the street. Come visit our garden, and if you’d like to volunteer to help take care of it, please call us.

 

Walk Celebration

Many thanks to Campbell’s Soup Company for hosting our 2008 Walk Celebration. It was a fantastic day with more than 100 people in attendance to celebrate the amazing accomplishment of raising nearly $250,000 for the Walk Against Hunger. New Jersey’s Cathedral Kitchen won the most honors, carrying away awards for both most money raised and largest increase in donations from last year to this year. NBC 10’s Aditi Roy was on hand to present the awards for the Walk, as well for the Soup Kitchen Cookoff, where Nutritional Development Services and Brotherhood Mission cleaned up with their delicious peanut butter delights, pasta salad, and organic corn salad.

 

1,000 Miles Against Hunger

Well, he’s made it to the 1,000 mile mark, a true milestone on the Pacific Coast Trail. Now that his parents have joined him, Jason will be hiking further north, through Yosemite on this next part of his journey. Many, many thanks to those who have donated to the Coalition in support of Jason’s trek. So far, he has raised more than $4,300 towards his goal of $10,000.

You can follow Jason’s adventures at www.trailjournals.com (type in Henschen).

DONATE TO THE HIKE FOR HUNGER BY GOING TO: www.active.com/donate/hikeforhunger. You can donate two different ways - make a one time donation at any amount you like or donate per mile. The trail is 2,650 miles long so a 1 cent donation per mile will come to $26.50, a 2 cent donation to $53.00, and so on.

 

New Farm Bill

The nutrition title includes more than $10 billion over ten years in increases in federally funded food and nutrition programs:

• $7.8 billion for the Food Stamp Program
• $1.26 billion for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
• $1 billion for the free fresh fruit and vegetable snack program

As of October 1, 2008, the following changes will be implemented:

• The name of the Food Stamp Program will be changed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
• The standard deduction and minimum benefit will be raised and indexed for inflation. These changes mean that families will stop losing their purchasing power year after year. The new minimum benefit will be $14 a month.
• The cap on the child care deduction will be eliminated. More families will be able to afford decent childcare without having to sacrifice their daily intake of food.
• Resource limits will be increased and tax-preferred retirement accounts and education accounts will no longer be included in their calculation. This will allow families to save more money towards a more secure future.
• Funding for commodity purchases for TEFAP will be increased from $140m to $250m with additional annual adjustments for inflation. This will help emergency feeding programs meet the increasing demand for food.
• The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program will be expanded so that children attending low-income schools will have access to fresh produce.

 

Coalition in the News:

Times are hard, as Philadelphians try to make ends meet. Learn more about the issues by reading the articles below:

Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor

Soaring use of food stamps another sign of lean times

When Ends Don’t Meet