Pete Nebhut

By Ed Nicholson

Today is the first day of school for many here in our home in Arkansas.  I always had mixed emotions about going back to school after summer break. But for many kids, it's a huge relief, since they're fed much better during the school year than in the summer.

I recently had a chance to speak with several school foodservice directors at the annual national conference of the School Nutrition Association.  They all--no matter where they serve--get to see child hunger up close.  Without exception they're passionate about feeding kids, working with limited resources to make certain no child goes hungry.

Here, Adriane Robles, Director of Nutrition Services for the San Bernadino (CA) City Unified School District discusses child hunger in her district. 

We started this Twitter list almost two years ago with names of people who have been active (online or offline) in the discussion of hunger. Since then it's grown as more and more people and organizations 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
http://twitter.com/FeedingAmerica  Feeding America
http://twitter.com/billshore Billy Shore, founder of Share Our Strength
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/lisa_goddard    Lisa Goddard, Online Marketing Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/Karlacantu  Karla Cantu, Senior Director of Agency Relations, CAFB
http://twitter.com/kimberwillis Kim Willis, Communications Manager, CAFB
http://twitter.com/molls2009 Molly Robbins, Community Events Manager, CAFB
http://twitter.com/pastelmagick   Emily Babb, Donor Services Manager, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jelyon John Lyon, Faith-Based Capacity Building-VISTA, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jcdwyer JC Dwyer, Texas Food Bank Network, Statewide Advocacy Director,
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/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/TexansVsHunger  Texas Food Bank Network
http://twitter.com/whatscooking  Michelle Stern
http://twitter.com/foodbankccs Food Bank of ContraCosta and Solano Counties
http://twitter.com/pdxmission Portland Rescue Mission, Portland, Oregon
http://twitter.com/ftmyerssoupktch Judy--Ft. Myers Soup Kitchen
http://twitter.com/aafb  Association of Arizona Food Banks
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/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/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/BreadfortheCity Bread for the City, Washington, DC
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/heifer  Heifer International
http://twitter.com/heiferportland  Heifer Portland
http://twitter.com/kidsfoodbasket  Kids Food Basket.  Grand Rapids, Michigan
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.com/EndChildHunger  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/walkforhunger  Kristin--Project Bread--The Walk for Hunger
http://twitter.com/phxmission Phoenix Rescue Mission 
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/swong7   Stacy Wong , Greater Boston 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/AJoyFULLHoliday A  Joyfull Holiday 
http://twitter.com/dipaolamomma Lara DiPaola
http://twitter.com/1millionmeals Jeffrey Strain, Penny Experiment
http://twitter.com/foodhunger  The Volunteer Way
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/CCSTB  Community Center of St. Bernard
http://twitter.com/thelastshow The Last Show--Karen
http://twitter.com/rjtbaum   Robert J. Teitelbaum
http://www.twitter.com/dinnergarden  The Dinner Garden
http://twitter.com/HartfordFoodSys Hartford Food System
Feeding America Food Banks
http://twitter.com/2harvest Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/2harvestCFL Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Orlando
http://twitter.com/2ndharvest  2nd Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties
http://twitter.com/ACFB Atlanta Community Food Bank
http://twitter.com/arfoodbank   Arkansas Foodbank Network
http://twitter.com/BayAreaFoodBank Bay Area Food Bank
http://twitter.com/brfoodbank    Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CAFB Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, Inc.
http://twitter.com/CareandShareFB  Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
http://twitter.com/CentralILFoodbk   Central IL Foodbank
http://twitter.com/centralpafb Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CFBFresno  Community Food Bank, Fresno, CA
http://twitter.com/chattfood Chattanooga Area Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CityHarvest   City Harvest   New York,NY
http://twitter.com/CleveFoodbank Cleveland Foodbank, Inc.
http://twitter.com/CommFoodBankNJ Community Food Bank of New Jersey
http://twitter.com/CTFoodBank Connecticut Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CVFBFeedMore Central Virginia Foodbank, Inc.
http://twitter.com/DailyBread Daily Bread Food Bank, Miami
http://twitter.com/eifoodbank Eastern Illinois Foodbank, Urbana
http://twitter.com/FeedAmericaWI America's Second Harvest of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
http://twitter.com/feedingwestmich Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank
http://twitter.com/FoodBank4NYC Food Bank For New York City
http://twitter.com/foodbankccs Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
http://twitter.com/FoodBankCENC Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, Raleigh
http://twitter.com/FoodBankNENY Regional Food Bank Northeastern New York
http://twitter.com/FoodBankofCC Food Bank of Corpus Christi
http://twitter.com/FoodBankofDE Food Bank of Delaware, Newark
http://twitter.com/foodbankrgv Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, Inc.
http://twitter.com/foodbankrockies Food Bank of the Rockies, Denver
http://twitter.com/FoodbankSBC Foodbank of Santa Barbara County
http://twitter.com/foodbanksj       Food Bank of South Jersey
http://twitter.com/FoodBankSTier Food Bank of the Southern Tier, Elmira, NY
http://twitter.com/FoodBkNIndiana Food Bank of Northern Indiana
http://twitter.com/FoodDepository Greater Chicago Food Depository
http://twitter.com/FoodLinkNY   Foodlink Food Bank, Rochester, NY
http://twitter.com/FoodShuttle Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Raleigh, NC
http://twitter.com/FreestoreFB Freestore FoodBank, Cincinnati
http://twitter.com/Gleaners Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan
http://twitter.com/GleanersFBIndy Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc.
http://twitter.com/Gr8BosFoodBank The Greater Boston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/growthefoodbank Capital Area Food Bank, DC
http://twitter.com/HarvestersORG Harvesters - The Community Food Network, Kansas City
http://twitter.com/HoustonFoodBank Houston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/hpfoodbank High Plains Food Bank, Amarillo
http://twitter.com/lafoodbank Los Angeles Regional Foodbank
http://twitter.com/LCFBFoodFIght Lowcountry Food Bank, Charleston, SC
http://twitter.com/MANNAFoodBank MANNA FoodBank, Ashville NC
http://twitter.com/mfbn Montana Food Bank Network
http://twitter.com/Mid_OHFoodbank Mid-Ohio FoodBank
http://twitter.com/missingmeals  Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/NEILB Northern Illinois Food Bank
http://twitter.com/NNFoodBank Food Bank of Northern Nevada
http://twitter.com/northernlakesfb Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank
http://twitter.com/ntfb North Texas Food Bank
http://twitter.com/nwncfoodbank   Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina
http://twitter.com/onecanonedollar  Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina
http://twitter.com/OreFoodBankFA Oregon Food Bank
http://twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest Ozarks Food Harvest, Springfield, MO
http://twitter.com/PghFoodBank Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
http://twitter.com/refb Redwood Empire Food Bank, Santa Rosa, CA
http://twitter.com/rfbo Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (OKC)
http://twitter.com/RIFoodBank Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Providence
http://twitter.com/safoodbank San Antonio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/SecondHarvestOH   Second Harvest Ohio
http://twitter.com/semofoodbank  Southeast Missouri Food Bank
http://twitter.com/sffoodbank San Francisco Food Bank
http://twitter.com/SHFBofMidTN Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee
http://twitter.com/SoTxFoodBank South Texas Food Bank, Laredo
http://twitter.com/SPFB South Plains Food Bank, Lubbock
http://twitter.com/stlfoodbank St. Louis Area Foodbank
http://twitter.com/StMarysFoodBank St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, Phoenix
http://twitter.com/TAFoodbank Tarrant Area Food Bank, Ft. Worth
http://twitter.com/threesquareLV Three Square Food Bank, Las Vegas
http://twitter.com/UnitedFoodBank United Food Bank, Mesa AZ
http://twitter.com/utahfoodbank Utah Food Bank Services, Salt Lake City
http://twitter.com/VermontFoodbank Vermont Foodbank, Inc., South Barre
http://twitter.com/WeldFoodBank Weld Food Bank, Greeley, CO
http://twitter.com/WestOhioFB West Ohio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/culinarschmooze Culinary Schmooze
http://twitter.com/schoolsserve The National School Food Drive
http://twitter.com/famtofamily Family to Family
http://twitter.com/AggregateND   The Online Carpool for Produce
http://twitter.com/FoodBanking Global FoodBanking Network
http://twitter.com/IowaFBA Iowa Food Bank Association
http://twitter.com/northernlakesfb  Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, Duluth
http://twitter.com/FeedingMaine  Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine
http://twitter.com/KimDoyleWille  Kim Doyle Wille 
http://twitter.com/MarlitaH  Marlita H
http://twitter.com/angelfrmcanada  Robin and Craig
http://twitter.com/MargaretChoSac  Jeffrey Goldade
http://www.twitter.com/gransome Gary Ransome
http://www.twitter.com/breadrobin Robin Stephenson, Bread for the World
https://twitter.com/communityserv  Community Servings, Massachusetts
https://twitter.com/novusint  Jeremy Lutgen,  Novis International
https://twitter.com/HeresLife  Here's Life Inner City
https://twitter.com/paladinette  Paladinette
https://twitter.com/MetroCareRing Metro CareRing, Denver

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

 

 

 

 

By Ed Nicholson

We recently spent a week traveling through Iowa with the rolling circus that is RAGBRAI  (I still have lots left to talk about there; more later).   The bicycle ride features 15,000 registered riders and thousands more who come along for the ride. Practically every state in the union is represented.

One of the things we did as part of that effort is a brief survey among participants to assess what people know about hunger and hunger organizations. 

Questions 3 and 4 of the survey were specifically designed to gauge attitudes about how serious a problem people believed hunger to be in their own community. 

From the more than 1350 respondents, more than 81% answered that hunger was either a "moderate" "low priority," problem or  that there is "little or no hunger in my community." 

Only 19% believed hunger is either a critical or serious problem in their community. 

53% believed that the majority of people affected by hunger could do something about it if they made adjustments in their lifestyle. 

Is it possible our efforts to end hunger are being diluted because many believe it's either not a problem in their own communities, or is a problem of the victims' own making?

By Ed Nicholson

I monitor social media for what gets said about Tyson Foods. Yesterday there was a tweet from someone who said "Can't wait to be done with this bag of [Tyson] chicken so I can move on to something from a company that isn't so evil." 

I don't know what prompted the comment (at least it appeared she was going to eat the chicken).    But I wish she could have been with me the last three days.

You see, "Tyson Foods" isn't a cloistered few who control the puppet strings of shadowy empire.  It's 117,000 people all around the world.  And since Sunday, I've been with some of the best in the world.  People from Tyson operations in Nebraska and Iowa who've volunteered their time to come out in the Iowa July heat to cook and sell food to riders in the annual RAGBRAI event. And donate the proceeds to hunger relief. Some were up 'til midnight in Storm Lake last night.  Others setting up in Varina at 4:00 a.m. today. In the past three days, more than six thousand meals have been fed to RAGBRAI riders. 

It's a big healthy dose of Heartland heart and a work ethic that will wear you to the ground if you try to keep pace with it.  We try not to make this blog too self-centered, but every once in a while I have to brag on these folks. I'm proud of 'em.  

Thanks to the people who've worked the past three days and the ones who''ll work the next five.

You can see their photos below or on Flickr.  We'd also be honored if you'd follow Tyson Hunger Relief on Facebook. 

 

Dakota City/ Dakota Dunes

 

Storm Lake

 

 

 

Storm Lake

 

 

 

Dakota City/ Dakota Dunes

 

Cherokee

 

By Ed Nicholson

If you've followed this blog for more than a year, you know that this time each year, we have the distinct honor to join team members from our plants in Iowa (and one in Joslin, Illinois) in preparing and selling food along the route of the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Proceeds from the sale go to hunger relief efforts in the towns along the way, and to Share Our Strength, our great longtime partners who help administer the grants. 

With 15,000 registered riders (and many who don't register) from across the country, RAGBRAI is truly a unique event; a study in diversity.

For those of you who subscribe by email, please indulge us just this week.  We'll be posting every day, mainly because we believe the more than 200 team members who come out and cheerfully work in the heat deserve the recognition the postings provide. 

You can also see photos at our Flickr site and postings on our Facebook page. 

We kicked off yesterday  at the ride's Expo in Sioux City, with the great help of Team Members from the Tyson Dakota City plant and the Dakota Dunes.

Today we're in Storm Lake.  If you happen to be on the ride, stop by and eat a sandwich with us.  It goes to a worthy cause.

Want to know about child hunger? Ask someone who sees it up close: a teacher or school foodservice director. Michael Rosenberger is the foodservice director of the Irving (TX) Independent School District.

Here he speaks passionately and articulately about the kids at risk of hunger he sees every day he goes to work.

The Food Research and Action Center  (FRAC) has a very informative piece of research in Food Hardship: A Closer Look at Hunger--Data for the Nation, States, 100 MSAs, and Every Congressional District.

Here in order are the metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) with the highest rates of food hardship in 2008-2009

1. Memphis; Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas
2. Bakersfield, California
3. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania
4. Fresno, California
5. Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida
6. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California
7. Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama
8. New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, Louisiana
9. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada
10. Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina
11. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida
12. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
13. Toledo, Ohio
13.  Winston-Salem, North Carolina
15. Charleston-N Charleston-Summerville, South Carolina
15. Columbia, South Carolina
15. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, California
18. Little Rock-N Little Rock-Conway, Arkansas
19. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, North Carolina, South Carolina
19. Jacksonville, Florida
21. Baton Rouge, Florida
21. Knoxville, Tennessee
21. Tulsa, Oklahoma
24. Columbus, Ohio
24. Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana

 

By Ed Nicholson

We're coming up on a great American holiday, where those of us in the U.S. celebrate the freedoms we've been so amply given.

Lots of us have popped off lots of fireworks in those celebrations.

Here's an idea:  This year, save some (or all!) of the money your family might spend on fireworks, send it to your local food bank or hunger relief organization, and take your family on an outing to the local "spectacular" fireworks display in your community (every community seems to have one), instead. 

You'll have fun and some hungry kid will have a meal instead of your money going up in smoke.

Thanks to my lovely wife Ginger for this idea.  (and for putting up with me)

 Image: besighyawn: Creative Commons

by Ed Nicholson

As I post this on Friday afternoon, tens of thousands of kids at risk of hunger around the country are being sent home from school with backpacks full of food thanks to innovative programs such as the one Janet Kniffin, Chief Development Officer for the Connecticut Foodbank, describes in the video above.  Were it not for these programs, many would go hungry over the weekend, since school lunches are their primary source of nutrition.

Soon school will be out for the summer.  What happens then?  Many communities have solutions.  Many don't. 

Do your local schools have backpack programs?  If so, what happens during the summer?