Erma Smith

View Tyson Foods Hunger Relief Donations in a larger map

Here's a Google map I created on Friday of the truckload donations Tyson has done in the past year.  Notice all of the icons are clickable for more information. You can zoom in to the street address (with apologies to those recipients whose addresses I didn't nail precisely--I did this all in one day).    We plan on keeping it updated, so it will be an archive of what we're doing (just wish it had been around ten years ago). 

Creating it got me thinking:  Food banks could use this free tool to plot all of their agencies, along with their relevant information.  Notice above that Goodgle supplies you with some embeddable code, so you can put it on your blog or website.  You can set it with any number of collaborators (including a wide-open wiki style), so conceivably agencies could enter and edit their own information. 

Getting started is easy, and begins with setting up a Google account. 

Imagine if all of the food banks did this, then the maps were aggregated; if the world could see all 63,000 agencies in one view, then zoom into the ones working in their state, community and neighborhood.   That might be kinda cool.

By Elise Mitchell

As Ed mentioned in his post earlier this week, the donation last Saturday to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank received a lot of positive media coverage and helped bring to light the hard work of many volunteers.  We’ve posted some of those stories here from our local TV stations KFSM, KHOG and KNWA and appreciate their coverage of the event.

While sometimes it can be tough to get media attention for good news, we’ve actually found media to be very receptive to our outreach for Tyson’s donations to food banks around the country.  Our guess is that increasingly, hunger is newsworthy, which is both good and bad, of course.  Good because so many people are actively trying to help those in need; bad because the need continues to grow as a result of the economic stress people are enduring. 

Yes, we’ve been fortunate to earn our share of coverage, but our ultimate goal in doing this is to continue to shine the spotlight on the cause itself.  Hopefully, from greater awareness will come greater resources.  With all of us working together as well as greater attention brought to the fight against hunger, we can continue to make a difference.
 

Elise Mitchell is the President and CEO of Mitchell Communications.

We started this Twitter list over a year ago with names of peope who have been active (online or offline) in the discussion of hunger. Since then it's grown as more and more people find Twitter a valid way to bring the community online.   From time to time, I'll re-tweet the URL to this post. If you'd like your name added to this list, comment here with your Twittername, send Twitter reply to  @TysonFoods, or email me at ed.nicholson@Tyson dot com   I probably won't add you unless you ask me, so if you want to be added (some folks would prefer their names not be on the list), just ask!

There's also a comprehensive hunger twitterers list at http://twitter.com/TysonFoods/hunger-communityh to  which you can subscribe with one click. 

Now. You all go follow each other and talk amongst yourselves.

http://twitter.com/sharestrength  SOS primary account, run by Jeff Weidner and Eric Herboso
http://twitter.com/FeedingAmerica  Feeding America
http://twitter.com/billshore Billy Shore, founder of Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/EricHerboso   Web and social media stuff for Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest Ozarks Food Harvest food bank in Springfield, MO
http://twitter.com/dpmichel Dan Michel--social media for Feeding America
http://twitter.com/ellendamaschino Ellen Damaschino SOS OFL Hall of Fame Chef and blogger
http://twitter.com/hungeractions Take Action on Hunger
http://twitter.com/rockforhunger  Rock for Hunger
http://twitter.com/FTWM Feed Them With Music
http://twitter.com/AndreaSherwood Andrea Sherwood--Tyson Foods Hunger Relief Team
http://twitter.com/ Ddavenport David Davenport, President & CEO, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB)
http://twitter.com/kerri_qunell Kerri Qunell, VP, Communications, CAFB
http://twitter.com/lisa_goddard  Lisa Goddard, Advocacy and Online Marketing Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/Karlacantu Karla Cantu, Agency Relations Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jcdwyer JC Dwyer, TFBN Statewide Advocacy Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/kimberwillis Kim Willis, Communications Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/molls2009 Molly Robbins, Community Events Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/kirrasue  Kirra Hamman, Volunteer Resources Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/pastelmagickEmily Babb, Community Relations Assistant, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jelyon John Lyon, Faith-Based Capacity Building-VISTA, CAFB
http://twitter.com/tjordanova Tania Jordanova, Food Resources-VISTA, CAFB
http://twitter.com/clarknwark Michael Clark, Mitchell Communications
http://elisemitch  Elise Mitchell, Mitchell Communications
http://twitter.com/EricaBenavides San Antonio Food Bank Community Relations Manager
http://twitter.com/EndChildHunger  Michael Farver
http://twitter.com/susanapics Susan Adcock Photoblogger
http://twitter.com/ederdn Ed Nicholson, personal account
http://twitter.com/azganjar   A. Zganjar, Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/SuzyTwohig Suzy Twohig, Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/TSARedKettle The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign
http://twitter.com/ntfb   North Texas Food Bank (Dallas)
http://twitter.com/teamlivefeed Tom Robinson, Live Feed (Music for hunger relief, St. Louis)
http://twitter.com/FriendsofWFP Friends of the World Food Program
http://twitter.com/cookingwithamy Cooking With Amy-- Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/egratto Genie Gratto-- Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/marianiles Maria Niles--Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/SFFoodBank Gayle Keck --San Francisco Food Bank
http://twitter.com/TexansVsHunger  Texas Food Bank Network
http://twitter.com/whatscooking  Michelle Stern
http://twitter.com/FoodBank4NYC  Food Bank for New York City
http://twitter.com/foodbankccs Food Bank of ContraCosta and Solano Counties
http://twitter.com/pdxmission Portland Rescue Mission, Portland, Oregon
http://twitter.com/FoodBankofDE  Food Bank of Delaware
http://twitter.com/ftmyerssoupktch Judy--Ft. Myers Soup Kitchen
http://twitter.com/brfoodbank   Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank
http://twitter.com/aafb  Association of Arizona Food Banks
http://twitter.com/Gleaners Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan
http://twitter.com/HoustonFoodBank Houston Food Bank
 http://twitter.com/new_community  New Community Mobile Food Pantry, Naperville, IL
http://twitter.com/markarnoldy Mark Arnoldy-focuses on international malnutrition
 http://twitter.com/SchoolLunch Healthful meals & nutrition education for children
http://twitter.com/suzannenlee Suzanne Lee, Dir. of Communications & Mktg.   Care & Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
http://twitter.com/CareandShareFB Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
http://twitter.com/Deca_Dietician  DeCA Dietician Ft. Lee, VA
http://twitter.com/homewatchnwa Homewatch Northwest Arkansas
http://twitter.com/CWS_Crop    Church World Service
http://twitter.com/FoodLinkNY  Foodlink Food Bank, Rochester, NY
http://twitter.com/2Harvest Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/missingmeals Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/GPCAH Greater Philadephia Coalition Against Hunger
http://twitter.com/SecondHelpings  Second Helpings, Indianapolis   
http://twitter.com/miriamskitchen Miriam's Kitchen--serving homeless in DC
http://twitter.com/2harvestCFL 2nd Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
http://twitter.com/2ndharvest 2nd Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties
http://twitter.com/BreadfortheCity Bread for the City, Washington, DC
http://twitter.com/commfoodbanknj Community Food Bank of New Jersey
http://twitter.com/rfbo  Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (OKC)
http://twitter.com/CityHarvest  City Harvest   New York,NY
http://twitter.com/WeldFoodBank  Weld Food Bank,   Greeley, Colorado
http://twitter.com/enklings  Tim Blair, hunger activist
http://twitter.com/poppypembroke Poppy Pembroke Communications Mgr.,Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
 http://twitter.com/CleveFoodbank  Cleveland Food Bank
http://twitter.com/heifer  Heifer International
http://twitter.com/heiferportland  Heifer Portland
http://twitter.com/FoodBankCENC Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
http://twitter.com/UnitedFoodBank    United Food Bank. Mesa, Arizona
http://twitter.com/kidsfoodbasket  Kids Food Basket.  Grand Rapids, Michigan
http://twitter.com/StMarysFoodBank St. Mary's Food Bank. Phoenix
http://twitter.com/BreadHolly Holly Hight--Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/hungerthon  WHY  whyhunger.org
http://twitter.com/fighthunger  World Food Programme
http://twitter.com/WorldFoodPrize World Food Prize
http://twitter.com/StopHunger MAZON--hunger relief organization 
http://twitter.comEndChildHunger  End Child Hunger, Michael Farver
http://twitter.com/firstthebasics First the Basics (helping people find hot meals)
http://twitter.com/URMission Union Rescue Mission, Little Rock
http://twitter.com/Mid_OHFoodbank Mid-Ohio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/walkforhunger  Kristin--Project Bread--The Walk for Hunger
http://twitter.com/phxmission  Phoenix Rescue Mission 
http://twitter.com/FreestoreFB Freestore Food Bank Cincinnati, OH
http://twitter.com/creativelyme  Sarah Hall
http://twitter.com/FeedINsHungry Emily Bryant
http://twitter.com/WalkandKnock Mary Chant  Walk and Knock-annual food drive
http://twitter.com/safoodbank  San Antonio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/swong7  Stacy Wong , Greater Boston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/Gr8BosFoodBank:  Greater Boston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/VermontFoodbank Vermont Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CleveFoodbank   Cleveland Foodbank
http://twitter.com/arfoodbank  Arkansas Foodbank Network
http://twitter.com/RIFoodBank Rhode Island Food Bank
http://twitter.com/HandsOnHartford    Hands on Hartford
http://twitter.com/ChicagoShares Chicago Shares
http://twitter.com/localfooddude Timothy Cipriano, New Haven School Systems and Local Food Dude
http://twitter.com/MOWFeedMore Meals on Wheels Serving Central Virginia
http://twitter.com/CVFBFeedMore Central Virginia Food Bank
http://twitter.com/AJoyFULLHoliday  A  Joyfull Holiday 
http://twitter.com/dipaolamomma Lara DiPaola
http://twitter.com/1millionmeals Jeffrey Strain, Penny Experiment
http://twitter.com/SecondHarvestOH  Second Harvest Ohio
http://twitter.com/GleanersFBIndy Gleaners Food Bank, Indianapolis
http://twitter.com/FoodDepository Chicago Food Depository
http://twitter.com/foodhunger  The Volunteer Way
http://twitter.com/semofoodbank Southeast Missouri Food Bank
http://twitter.com/Harvest4Hunger Harvest for Hunger
http://twitter.com/pghfoodbank  Pittsburgh Food Bank
http://twitter.com/breadjennifer Jennifer Stapleton, Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/bread4theworld Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/secondharvestoh Second Harvest Ohio

Twitter Lists--Hunger Relief (one click following)
http://twitter.com/sharestrength/lists Share Our Strength (@ShareStrength) is doing a wonderful job of categorizing and listing its stakeholders involved in hunger relief on the Twitter List tool. 
http://twitter.com/TysonFoods/hunger-communityh

 Facebook is the social media channel of choice for a huge and growing segment of our population.  Communications-savvy hunger relief organizations are getting on board, opening the channel to their stakeholders.

I did a quick scan across the interwebs and found a few hunger orgs with Facebook presence.  URLs are posted below in what I hope to be a continually updated list, sort of like the Twitter list we started a while back. 

Please let us know if you want to be added.  When you're added, I'll send out a tweet letting the world know about your addition.

Of course, if you want to add, Tyson Foods, we'd LOVE to be your friend
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Tyson-Foods-Hunger-Relief/200228386775

http://www.facebook.com/ShareOurStrength Share Our Strength
http://www.facebook.com/FeedingAmerica Feeding America
http://www.facebook.com/CapitalAreaFoodBankofTexas Capital Area Food Bank of Texas
http://www.facebook.com/FeedHopeNow Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/38829?m=5ce60ecc  Food Bank for New York City
http://www.facebook.com/feednorthtexas North Texas Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Urbana-IL/Eastern-Illinois-Foodbank/26581903414 Eastern Illinois Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Regional-Food-Bank-of-Northeastern-New-York/58319747906 Regional Food Bank ofNortheastern New York
http://www.facebook.com/cfbeo?ref=ts Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hatfield-MA/The-Food-Bank-of-Western-MA/43659072674  Food Bank of Western Massachusettes
http://www.facebook.com/akroncantonfoodbank?ref=search&sid=1068741394.2307815536..1 Akron Canton Regional Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/arkansasfoodbank Arkansas Foodbank Network
http://www.facebook.com/breadfortheworld Bread for the World
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/236111?m=4a83263b Capital Area Food Bank (DC)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gleaners-Community-Food-Bank/50956457250 Gleaners Food Bank of SE Michigan
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26853862061 Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gleaners-Food-Bank-of-Indiana-Inc/201748935122 Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana
http://www.facebook.com/fooddepository  Greater Chicago Food Depository
http://www.facebook.com/MillenniumPromise?v=wall Millennium Promise
http://www.facebook.com/hungercoalition Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
http://www.facebook.com/mazonusa MAZON
http://www.facebook.com/miriamskitchen Miriam's Kitchen
http://www.facebook.com/oxfamamerica Oxfam America
http://www.facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest Ozarks Food Harvest
http://www.facebook.com/phoenixrescuemission Phoenix Rescue Mission
http://www.facebook.com/safoodbank San Antonio Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-Food-Bank/76025018070?ref=nf San Francisco Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/SecondHarvestFoodBank Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Second-Harvest-Food-Bank-of-the-Mahoning-Valley/140008458558?ref=ts+ Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley
http://www.facebook.com/firstfoodbank St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance
http://www.facebook.com/endchildhungeraz AZ Partnership to End Childhood Hunger
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Greater-Boston-Food-Bank/80080296729?ref=ts Greater Boston Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-food-Bank/19747724985?ref=ts United Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/WHYhunger World Hunger Year
http://www.facebook.com/pages/FreestoreFoodbank/69302491713?v=wall&viewas=1636772575 Freestore Foodbank  Cincinnati
http://www.facebook.com/#/atlfoodbank?ref=ts  Atlanta Community  Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/regionalfoodbank Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
http://www.facebook.com/unionrescuemissionla Union Rescue Mission
http://www.facebook.com/invisiblepeopletv  InvisiblePeople.tv
http://www.facebook.com/RICFB   Rhode Island Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raleigh-NC/Inter-Faith-Food-Shuttle/6955858977?ref=ts Food Shuttle, Raleigh
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Second-Harvest-Food-Bank-of-Northwest-NC/146908884459 Second Harvest Food Bank of NW NC
http://www.facebook.com/foodbankcny Food Bank of Central New York
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Food-Bank-of-Eastern-Michigan/222709748781?ref=ts Food Bank of Eastern Michigan
http://www.facebook.com/pages/End-Childhood-Hunger/116907571237?v=wall  End Childhood Hunger
http://www.facebook.com/people/Cleveland-Foodbank/1426777511 Cleveland Foodbank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SEMO-Food-Bank/177067648929?ref=nf Southeast Missouri Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/#/HarvestforHunger Harvest for Hunger
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greater-Pittsburgh-Community-Food-Bank/145889928474 Pittsburgh Food Bank
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Three-Square/56816738668 Three Square Food Bank, Las Vegas
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/Hunger101AZ?ref=profile St. Mary's Foodbank Alliance
http://www.facebook.com/ChannelOneFoodBankandFoodShelf?ref=share  Channel One Food Bank

 

UofA student athletes help distribute more than 40k lbs. of food to NW AR hunger relief agencies

By Ed Nicholson

When athletes make the news, it's usually for one of two reasons: Either they're excelling on the field or messing up in public. What a lot of people don't realize--and what  doesn't get reported often enough--is that most university athletic programs have student life involvement programs that regularly engage kids in worthy activities in their communities.
This past Saturday, on a cold, damp morning, perfect for sleeping in, more than 130 University of Arkansas athletes came out to assist in the delivery of 40,000 pounds of donated food to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.
It was the fourth year in a row Tyson Foods and the UofA had worked with national organization Lift Up America on the event, which works to engage student athletes in community service, donates food to the food bank, and creates awareness for hunger in our home community.  More than 50 of the food bank's agencies came out to receive food.
All three of the local broadcast affiliates showed up, as well as two newspapers.  Lots of folks got fed and the athletes got some well-deserved positive attention for their off-the-field good works.
I'll be posting more stuff from Saturday's event in the next few days.

 

By Ed Nicholson

We get lots of plaques at Tyson Foods for being a donor.  Plaques, trophies, plexiglass awards.  Nice gestures from organizations who do tremendous work in their communities.  But managing them can become an issue. There’s not enough room to display them, and they’re eventually discarded.    So really, folks, save the money.  It’s not that we don’t appreciate the gratitude, but…

Here’s an idea for an alternative (and thanks to my colleague, the indefatigable Sue Brockway, for this suggestion):   If you sincerely appreciate a company’s work on your behalf, send a letter to their CEO or one of their board members.  Tell them about hunger in your community.  Tell them about the positive impact of the company’s donation.   Thank them for their role in making it happen.  If you happen to have a board member, who's one of their customers, get them to sign the letter.  There’s a very good chance the letter will get circulated among some senior leaders.  And when it comes time for review and approval of the continued work on behalf of your issue, what you’ve done will have had a far more positive affect than that plaque they’ll never see.

By Ed Nicholson

In August of 2008, we did our first social media engagement donation with the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin.  There weren't many such efforts going on at that time (a lot since). It's been cited as a case study several times, and since then, we've considered CAFB a great partner. As I've said many times, they are definitely among the best food banks at using social networking channels in reaching their stakeholders with the crystal-clear message, "HUNGER IS UNNACEPTABLE." 

Today we're announcing a new effort!

For the next couple of weeks CAFB will be holding their Souper Bowl of Caring drive,  in conjunction with the largest youth-led food and fund  raising effort in the country.  In support of this event, for every comment you make to this blog post telling us you think hunger is unacceptable (if you want to add why, that would be even better), we'll donate 100 pounds of food.   We'll do the same if you post it to your own blog or if you send a Tweet with the hashtag #SBOCAustin.  We'll keep donating up to a 35,000 pound truckload.

So come on. Support the fabulous work of the Capital Area Food Bank. Tell the world HUNGER IS UNACCEPTABLE.

 

Students from the '09 Las Vegas Student Food Drive

By Susan Brockway

At Tyson Foods, we recently wrapped up our third year of sponsorship of the Student Food Drive.  For food banks and families at risk, it is now time to evaluate if this was a success or a program that did not meet expectations.  My job is to assemble the numbers, look at the investment, measure the outcomes and see if in fact this was a good investment of resources over the past three years. 
I would be the person grant writers hate. 
As I took calculator in one hand and pen in the other, my unbiased evaluation was tempered by one memorable experience:  A sixteen year old young woman came and talked to me in Las Vegas and told me a story about a family's kids who had only one certain meal a day, and that was at school.  Often, the family split up at friends' homes for dinner.  Most of the time everyone got something to hold them over until the next day. The family was hers.Yet this young woman brought in one case of canned fruit and said her contribution would help another family. My heart hurt for her, not out of sympathy but out of pride. Never underestimate the power of our children.  In the end, they understand more than their years. 
It was an honor to meet the hundreds of young people who will change how we look at hunger.  Support them on their journey. 
 

Lest anyone think our friends in the hunger relief community exaggerate when they talk about how tough things are in the current economy:  Latoya Egwuekwe has produced a multimedia map, showing the advance of unemployment, county-by-county, since Janurary, 2007. 

Above is what's posted on YouTube, but for a better view of the map, go directly to the web version.

 

By Ed Nicholson

Shortly after we started this blog in 2007, I posed the question, "Where's the Online Discussion of Hunger?"   At the time, there simply wasn't much of a discussion occurring.

Pretty much the same when I asked the question again in May of 2009.

I still hold firmly to the belief that among the greatest potential benefits of social networking tools are their capabilities to build community and host online discourse.  And I'm now hopeful that is  occurring. 

More and more hunger organizations, some of which are listed below,  are using online channels to engage new stakeholders in the issue.    While some still cling tightly to the "broadcast the message" mentality, many are out there opening up two-way communications, stimulating, hosting and participating in discussions about how the problem of hunger is going to be solved.  These discussions occur offline.  Why can't they be just as vibrant online?

Below are some places you'll see thought-provoking content, with comment features enabled.  Where are some more?   Please comment.  I'll be glad to add them to the "Helpful Links" on the righthand side of the page here. 

Share Our Strength Blog--In my opinion, Share Our Strength does absolutely the best job of all the national hunger relief organizations in using social networking tools--almost of of them--to engage stakeholders, not simply broadcast messages

Capital Area Food Bank Blog--Early to the game, and still one of the best social media communications programs of all the food banks.

Other food banks with good blogs     

North Texas Food Bank

Food Bank For New York City

Texas Food Bank Network

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

Here's an interesting Facebook group, with some discussion starting to happen:   Food ThINC--Think About Feeding 9 Billion People

  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hunger-Solutions/141466027063?ref=ts A Statewide partnershp fighting Hunger in Minnesota--Facebook group.

Next time: What's a happening on Twitter. 

 Addded--from a comment from Jon:

http://nyccoalitionagainsthunger.wordpress.com/ - Joel Berg and the folks at NYCCAH are worth reading and discussing

http://breadforthecity.blogspot.com/ - the folks from Bread for the City in DC run a great blog

FRAC also has a newish blog focused on the pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015: http://frac.org/blog/ 

Hunger isn't their target issue but as we can all testify hunger is an issue with a lot of streams flowing into it so I always recommend Parke Wilde and the folks from Tufts's food policy blog: http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/

Along those same lines, but even broader and more diverse, I'd also recommend following Change.Org's Poverty in America blog: http://uspoverty.change.org/