Tony and Dolly Ellis

Here's a collection of video from the 2009 Lift Up America donation with the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.   89 student athletes, 39 northwest Arkansas non-profit agencies, a 35 lb. truckload of Tyson products came together on one clear, cold Ozark Saturday morning.  It was fun and rewarding.

Lieu R. Smith from Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Berryville, Arkansas.

Lieu is one of thousands of people who work at ground level in the fight against hunger.  His food bank feeds four to five hundred families a month.

Rodger Hunter, the Student Life Coordinator for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks athletic program is a heck of a guy. 

Rodger works hard to get student athletes involved in the community. To put them in places where they need to be, and keep them out of places they don't.

Today, Rodger helped bring an amazing 85 Razorback athletes to Don Reynolds stadium--in sub-freezing temperatures and long before they normally get up on Saturday morning--to help distribute 35 thousand pounds of Tyson products to 38 agencies of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.  With that much muscle and energy, it was phenomenal how quickly the product went out of the  Tyson truck and into the agency vehicles.

Props to you Rodger.  Keep on doing what you're doing, and thanks for your help today.

Other student athlete video interviews can be seen here:

Jackie Booker--UofA Soccer Goalie

Kyle Komerek--UofA Javelin Thrower

Most folks around Arkansas know London Crawford as being an outstanding receiver, and part of what has been known as the "play of the year," a 24-yard touchdown pass in the last 22 seconds, that pulled Arkansas ahead of LSU in the final game of the 2008 season.

But today, London made another outstanding play, interviewing a member of an agency of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, discussing the work of the agency in fighting hunger in the community. 

London was one of about 85 Arkansas athletes who came out on a sub-freezing day to help distribute food to 38 agencies of the food bank.  

This is the kind of off-the-field news that, while occurring often, doesn't get reported enough.

Kudos London.  We think you could make a great reporter.

University of Arkansas football players helping donate 35K lbs. of Tyson products at a Lift Up America donation, January 24, 2009.

David Cook, who volunteers with the Decatur Christians in Action food pantry talks about the great need in a small community.

By Ed Nicholson

 

A cold morning at Don Reynolds Stadium

Today we're live-blogging from the University of Arkansas's Don Reynold's stadium, where we're partnering with the Arkansas Razorbacks, and Lift Up America to distribute a truckload of Tyson products to agencies of the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

We have Tyson chairman, John Tyson, UofA athletic director, Jeff Long, Dave Hannah, CEO of Lift Up America, and a bunch of Razorback athletes and and spirit squad members, all braving the cold to help load boxes of chicken into trucks, vans and trailers going to non-profit agencies serving the needy in northwest Arkansas. 

All of this started five years ago with similar donations involving the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs.  This is the third year we've done this event with the Razorbacks, one of sixteen such events we've done with Lift Up America and college and pro teams this year. 

We'll be posting here as the day develops, as well as putting up Twitter messages, adding photos to Flickr, and posting videos to YouTube. 

Special shout out to Hugg & Hall for bringing out a forklift to help us get the products off the truck!

by Ed Nicholson

Congratulations to our friends at Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee for submitting the winning video, "Yes We're Cans" in the USAService.org contest to promote activities occurring in tomorrow's MLK Day of Service. 

This is an excellent piece of work:  Lighthearted and creative, yet provocative.  It also features still images from one of our favorite folks, Susan Adcock, who produced the Food for Thought photoblog for the food bank. 

Here's to you all for great work in creating awareness for this issue. And for all you do every day in the fight against hunger.

Thanks to all who commented on this entry about hunger in New York City and the work of the Food Bank for New York City . We now have more than 350 blog comments, meaning a truckload (approximately 35,000 lbs.)  of Tyson products will be delivered to the food bank sometime in the next couple of weeks. 

Meanwhile, please stay involved in the fight against hunger. New Yorkers can find out more by contacting the Food Bank for New York City.  If you're somewhere else,  Feeding America has a handy food bank finder tool on its site that will connect you with one of its 200 member food banks across the U.S.

Thanks again.  It's your engagement that makes this kind of effort possible.  And it will be your passion and compassion that make it possible for us to consider a day when the fight against hunger will be won.

This is the fourth in a series of posts designed to raise awareness of the challenges of hunger and poverty  in specific communities, and the work of food banks to address those challenges. 

According to new research by the Food Bank For New York City, the number of New York City residents struggling to afford food has doubled  to 4 million since 2003. Recent Food Bank research also shows that 20 percent of New Yorkers report they would not be able to afford food immediately after losing their household income.

Meanwhile, the Food Bank has been experiencing food shortages for much of the past year, and food prices and unemployment continue to rise. It is astounding that in one of the world’s richest cities, so many people would have trouble affording one of life’s basic necessities. That is why Tyson Foods is stepping up to make a difference.

For every comment made to this blog posting, Tyson will donate 100 lbs of food (up to a 35,000-pound truckload) to the Food Bank For New York City. That means that we need 350 comments right here to help provide food for struggling New Yorkers. As in similar efforts we've had here in the past few months, short comments are acceptable, and we won't harvest your email addresses to use later.  Comments are moderated, so it might take a bit to get them posted.

As the major hunger-relief organization for New York City, the Food Bank works to end food poverty and increase access to affordable, nutritious food for low-income New Yorkers throughout New York’s five boroughs. In addition to acquiring and distributing food to a citywide network of more than 1,000 food assistance programs, the Food Bank provides Direct Service, Education & Nutrition, Financial Empowerment and Disaster Relief Programs.

Continue to read below for more information about hunger and food poverty in New York City – and don’t forget to post your comment!

• Approximately 4 million New York City residents struggle to afford food for themselves and their families. Of that number, approximately half report they have never turned to food assistance before but worry that they may need to in the coming year.
• Close to half of all seniors living in New York City (47 percent) experience difficulty affording food
• 56 percent of households with children in NYC report difficulty affording food
• Close to one quarter (24 percent) of women in NYC report that they would not be able to afford food immediately after losing household income
• The average income for NYC households accessing emergency food that have employed members is $1,507 per month
• Almost one-third (31 percent) of disabled adults in NYC live below the federal poverty level (approximately $16,000 per year for a family of three)

Learn more about the Food Bank For New York City at foodbanknyc.org.  Click here to join the food bank's Facebook cause.   Please follow the new Twitter account @FoodBank4NYC.

Thanks to your efforts, we've now received more than 350 comments!  The food bank will receive a truckload of Tyson products within the next  few weeks.  Please continue to get involved in in the fight against hunger.