Tyson Foods Hunger Relief

Thanks!!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:35:24 GMT

Ed Nicholson

We've now received more than 630 comments to our blog entry this morning about hunger in Austin and the work of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.

This was just phenomenal, with the 350 comments needed to fill the truck coming in less than six hours. A big THANK YOU to everyone who made this happen: Everyone who commented, and especially all who ReTweeted the original Twitter messages. This was really the power of social media put to work effectively. We're humbled, amazed and awed at the community that made this occur.

Based on the responses we received, we will be doing more with the Food Bank and--if they want--with Social Media Club Austin and 501 Tech Club of Austin. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, if you're in the Austin area (and you guys are truly awesome) please support the HAM-up Tweet-up to benefit CAFB.

There were a lot of great comments made, and some very interesting questions raised, and some good suggestions that should provide more opportunity for discussion here.

We invite you to continue to be part of the discussion on hunger by subscribing to this site, that of the CAFB, or any of the other links you might see here.

Hunger in Austin--Something you can do to help

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:33:18 GMT

Information from the website of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas

Did you know

Nearly one in five adults and one in four children in Texas are hungry.
41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.
82% of Food Bank Partner Agency recipients are food insecure. 49% of recipients experience outright hunger. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
61% of Austin Independent School District (AISD) students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Making Ends Meet

76% of households receiving assistance from CAFB Partner Agencies report incomes below the federal poverty level. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
106,930 (12.6%) of Travis County individuals live below the Federal poverty level ($18,850 for a family of four). (Source: Austin Community Survey, 2004)
The annual income needed for a Travis County family of four without employee sponsored health insurance to "afford" to live in the Austin area is $53,080. That's 257% above the Federal poverty level. (Source: CPPP.org, The Family Budget Estimator Project)
Austin continues to have the highest cost of living in the state of Texas, exceeding housing costs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.
Those Served are Younger
While the child poverty rate in Texas is 23.2%, for the CAFB service area, 35% of the household members receiving food are children. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
While 12.4% of Texans in poverty are elderly, only 7% of households receiving food through CAFB are elderly. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest

Working Poor

Approximately 200,000, or 20%, of Travis County residents are classified as "working poor" by the Texas Department of Human Services. (Source: Basic Needs Coalition, 2005)
Between 2000 and 2003, the number of households in Travis County increased by 23,274, the majority of which (21,822 households) fell in the lowest three income brackets having an annual income of $24,999 or less.
Who's Serving Our Hungry?
Of Food Bank Partner Agencies, 71% of pantries and 37% of the soup kitchens are run by faith-based agencies.
59% of Partner Agency pantries and 12% of soup kitchens are entirely volunteer run with no paid staff.
CAFB is by far the most important source of food for its Partner Agencies, accounting for 76% of food for pantries and 38% for soup kitchens.
(Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)

No matter where you are, the statistics about hunger in your own community are just as compelling.

Find out how you can be a part of the great work of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and their mission of ending hunger in central Texas by visiting their site.

Here's something you can do today: For every comment this post receives indicating it has been read, Tyson Foods will donate 100 pounds of food (up to a 35K pound truckload) to the HAM-up (Tweetup), sponsored by the Food Bank, Social Media Club Austin and 501 Tech Club Austin. Help us fill the truck. Comment here (even one-word comments acceptable--BTW, since our comments are moderated, it might take a bit to get them up, but I WILL get them up).

UPDATE--The response from the online community has been awesome. From your response, we were able to fill the truck in less than six hours. THANKS!!!!

Want to build a community? Look at Austin.

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:05:37 GMT

Courtesy of Capital Area Food Bank of Texas "Hunger is Unacceptable" Campaign

Ed Nicholson

I've previously mentioned two online spaces that do a marvelous job of giving residents in their communities an accurate and compelling image of the face of hunger: Food for Thought and Invisible--the frontlines of hunger in Colorado.

This week, I was made aware of the online community-building being done by the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas in Austin. Extraordinary work. Lisa Goddard, advocacy and online marketing manager, is the architect of the food bank's online outreach, which supplements a very well-designed website with a wide variety of social media tools, the center of which is the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Weblog .

The blog, up since June, was originally launched provide an account of food bank CEO and President David Davenport's experiences with the Food Stamp Challenge. It does a superb job of just that, with compelling insight from David, brought to life with helpful links and embedded YouTube and Google video. But Lisa has now taken it much further.

David's blogging generated the phrase around which the food bank's latest effort was built, an incredibly-creative Flickr-focused campaign called "Hunger is Unacceptable." People are encouraged to upload their photos containing the message "Hunger is Unacceptable" to a Flickr group, where the photos are aggregated online. It gets visitors actively engaged, allows them to make a personal statement about hunger, and provides a reason to re-visit the site. You'll need to visit the site to see how they've made participation easy.

In addition to their blog and Flickr account, the food bank is using all of the most popular social media tools to build community, including a Facebook group and a LinkedIn organizational profile

In the ultimate social media activity, the food bank is working with the extremely active social media community in Austin, including Social Media Club Austin and 501 Tech Club on a HAM-up (Tweetup), mobilizing the well-connected community to a food drive via Twitter. Thanks to the outreach of David Neff, director of web and interactive strategy for the American Cancer Society, and highly connected and kinetic Ausitinite, Tyson Foods will be supporting this event in a unique way.

Stay tuned here next week for more details early next week. You have a potential role in this. These guys in Austin have it going on, having recently organized a highly successful blood drive Tweetup.

We'll be using this space to talk more about hunger in Austin, and specifically about the good work of the food bank.

Until then, go see what Capital Area Food Bank of Texas is doing. It's definitely the most effective use of social media community building I've seen among hunger relief organizations.

If you're aware of other online hunger relief efforts, let me know and we'll do our best to create awareness of them.

What's your image of hunger?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:37:55 GMT

Ed Nicholson

For all too many of us, our image of hunger is informed by the obvious: A person with a sign on the freeway ramp, or one sleeping on a sidewalk grate. Someone queued up in line at a soup kitchen.

But people in the hunger community know that's only a small--and most often unrepresentative--part of the whole story.

I've previously mentioned Susan Adcock's compelling photoblog, Food for Thought, produced in cooperation with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennesee.

There's another excellent photoblog, Invisible. The Frontlines of Hunger in Colorado, put together by the Food Bank of the Rockies in Denver.

Both blogs do a great job of jolting us away from those parochial stereotypes that all too often define and confine our thinking on the issue of hunger.

Please visit these sites. If you know of other places on the Web where good work is being done to educate, inform, or encourage conversation on the issue of hunger, let me know and we'll give them equal time here.

Tyson Foods Twittering

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:01:41 GMT

Ed Nicholson

As part of our effort to get the hunger community engaged in social media, I've discussed Twitter in a previous post.

For some time I've been Twittering under name @ederdn, In an effort to separate my personal Twitter stream from the official company stream, I've registered the name TysonFoods.

Unfortunately, there have been some cases of corporate Twitter handles being appropriated by those who didn't have effective permission to use them.

Jeremiah Owyang, web strategist for Forester Research, and widely-respected social media expert, has suggested cross-linking Twitter feeds to the organization's web site to validate. Which is what I'm doing here.

If you'd like to follow the Tyson Foods Twitter stream, you can access it at http://twitter.com/TysonFoods

While I'm not going to add a Twitter widget--yet--you'll note that there's a link in our blogroll.

Thanks for the suggestion, Jeremiah.

A Hero of the Iowa Floods--by Vicki Escarra

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:56:21 GMT

By Vicki Escarra--President and CEO of America's Second Harvest, the Nation's Food Bank Network

This past June, after Midwest flooding had reached residents all along the Cedar River, I visited the Northeast Iowa Food Bank—our member food bank in Waterloo, Iowa—to assess our recovery efforts. I travelled all through the affected areas and couldn’t believe the damage that was left in the aftermath of the floods. Residents told me it was the worst flooding they had ever seen. It was during these travels that I had the privilege of meeting one very heroic individual—Steve Mitchell, the Fire Chief for the Fire Department in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

When I met him, he was in the midst of operating an emergency-relief center for flood victims, which he had set-up in partnership with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank at a nearby elementary school. It was his idea to turn the school into an emergency-relief center, and he did everything in his power to make it a powerful resource for flood victims. As the waters began to rise, Steve had gone door to door notifying residents in areas that he and his firefighters knew were at risk of flooding. Then, as the flooding worsened, he and his fellow firefighters traveled by boat to rescue those who were stranded. His compassion was truly remarkable.

The need for emergency food always immediately follows a natural disaster. Steve’s relief center was open for 10 days, for up to 12 hours a day, and served food, water and cleaning supplies to nearly 5,000 people from more than five cities. With his dedication and the support of the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, he helped those men, women, and families survive incredibly difficult times. Please join me in thanking Steve, and the countless other brave volunteers across the country, who give everything they have to help people in need.

Righteous Indignation

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:29:32 GMT

by Ed Nicholson

It’s been kind of a crazy week here in the Tyson PR group. Here’s why:
Last year, at one of Tyson’s 119 plants, a fresh chicken processing plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, the RWDSU, the union representing team members at that plant, in contract negotiations, asked for a Ramadan holiday in consideration of the 250 Somali refugees working in the plant. The Tyson folks at the negotiating table said, “Everyone at the company gets eight paid holidays. You’d have to substitute it for one already in place.”   The union selected Labor Day as the holiday they wanted to substitute. This wasn’t as surprising as it might seem, since the plant, being a fresh chicken plant had traditionally worked on Labor Day to meet the demand for chicken for the holiday grills. The contract was ratified by union members in the plant.
Someone recently discovered the change, and word got out on the internet that Tyson had allowed a labor union to substitute the American holiday of Labor Day for the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr. The response has been truly amazing.   Countless emails and phone calls. Hundreds of blog postings, and interest from local, regional and national media. Responses ranged from truly concerned and open-to-dialog, to hateful, ugly, racist, even threatening. Some were supportive . But the thing that impressed most was the level and intensity of anger among some groups.
This was all about a change at one plant, which was requested and approved by the union workers at that plant, and affected less than one percent of the company’s workforce.
In the end, the company recommended, and the union members agreed that the contract be modified to reinstate Labor Day. But the brouhaha over the matter was quite something to witness.
Now, I know that there’s great fear among some folks of the American way of life being threatened by “outsiders.”   And I realize that it’s our customers and the public who really decide where the Tyson brand resides. I understand and respect the opinions of those who feel very, very strongly about this issue. This is America. Pride in our country is one of the things that makes it the best country in the world. As do diversity of opinion and the right to free expression.
I’m not writing this to initiate a conversation on the merits of this particular issue. This space is focused on hunger and those who are engaged in the fight against hunger, so anyone who wants to comment on this as its own issue can go to the hundreds of other forums that exist for political discourse.
Here’s the intersection, and what crossed my mind during the days of response to this: What if all of the passion, all of the energy, all of the thinking, arguing and action; all of the use of communications resources, and people’s time and efforts that went into responding to this issue, were used to fight hunger? What if as many people who became so righteously indignant over this were as equally impassioned over the fact that kids in their own communities are going to bed hungry?   What if people got angry over the fact that the greatest country in the world has hungry people in every one of its communities? And what if they acted with equal fervor over that anger?
Imagine what could be done.

Tom Laughlin, E.D. of River Bend Food Bank, discusses hunger

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:18:40 GMT

Tom Laughlin, Executive Director of River Bend Food Bank in Moline, Illinois, discusses hunger and the work of the food bank.

Update on Share Our Strength Activities--July 08

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:29:17 GMT

Got a message from Billy Shore regarding news about the Share Our Strength community, including:

Wynton Marsalis agreed to be honored guest and speaker at the Autumn Harvest dinner hosted by Danny Meyer and the Union Square Hospitality Group in NY.

McCormick & Schmick’s committed their restaurants to Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out this September, bringing our total participating restaurants to 3045!

Cleveland chef and restaurant owner Michael Symon, who won the Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef” competition, hosted A Tasteful Pursuit dinner in Cleveland with 8 female chefs from around the country.

The New York Times reported that the number of American children who are under 18 and live below the poverty line increased by almost 9% between 2000 and 2006.

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) announced that, along with co-investors, it would be investing $120 million in three nonprofits: Youth Villages, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Citizen Schools. The investment is comprised of $39 million from Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and $81 million from 19 co-investors. It is nearly unprecedented in philanthropic circles to see this amount of capital pooled on behalf of such a select number of nonprofits. It signals an important new approach in philanthropy.

Bob Oliver, Tyson RAGBRAI 08 Truck Driver

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:59:45 GMT

We can never say enough good things about the efforts of the Tyson Transportation Group and their vital role in the company's hunger relief efforts. They're amazing. They're always there with a great attitude, ready to deliver the food to the food banks or whereever it's needed. They generally pick some of the coolest folks in the world to drive those hunger relief deliveries. And this year's RAGBRAI was no exception. Bob Oliver drove a 52-foot Tyson 18-wheeler from the Missouri to the Mississipi, supplying the teams with meat and omelet ingredients along the way, so they could cook for hunger relief. He had to snake that big rig into and out of some really tight spots in those little Iowa towns, always being on the lookout to not run over someone on two wheels. Even though his job description didn't call for him to do any more than get the load there, Bob was a full-fledged team member, helping with setup and teardown, manning the grills, and many times, being the Tyson goodwill ambassador with the folks in the towns where we were setting up to cook. Bob, who lives in Council Bluffs, married his new wife, Stephanie on July 4 of this year. She also came along and pitched in herself for a couple of days along the route. A big thanks to Bob on behalf of all of the Tyson traveling crew. Hope to see you down the road again soon!

RSS subscription to this site

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:10:35 GMT

Since our re-design here, we have a new RSS feed for this site. If you were subscribed before the re-design went live, you'll need to resubscribe to the feed again.

Thanks for your patience, and we're very hopeful it will be worth the trouble.

A Message From Vicki Escarra, President and CEO, America's Second Harvest

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:43:32 GMT

Vicki Escarra, President and CEO, America's Second Harvest

As we all read in the news, times are difficult for families all across America. The economic climate is forcing men, women, and families to cut back on spending, and often forcing them to sacrifice important essentials-including food.

The America's Second Harvest network of food banks is seeing demand increasing at an unprecedented rate. In a recent survey of our members, 99 percent of our members reported that more clients are asking for support-with average increases in demand ranging from 15 to 20 percent. Nearly all cited the rising costs of food and fuel as the reason more and more Americans need to turn to their local charitable feeding agency for help.

In these tough times, our partners-including Tyson-donate food and funds that help to meet this increasing demand. But to truly respond to those in need, we're asking individuals across the country to step up to the plate and help fight hunger in their community and across the country. You can visit www.secondharvest.org to find your nearest food bank and to make a donation to our nationwide efforts.

RAGBRAI--Wrapping it Up

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:54:55 GMT

It's been a long haul across the state for those who have done every mile of it: LOTS of omelets, ribeye sandwiches, chicken sandwiches and pulled pork sandwiches have been sold. LOTS of bottles of cold water. And lots of money was raised for hunger relief efforts in those towns along the way.

The Ryder bob truck reefer has bounced its way from Missouri Valley to Le Claire. And a road-weary ground crew will get some well-deserved rest: Dave Hinojosa from the Tyson Joslin plant, whom you read about earlier. Elena Reader, from Waterloo, who was along and invaluable the first five days of the ride. Thomas Nicholson, the Prairie Grove, Arkansas high school senior who has thrown in like a guy twice his age (and worked as hard as he has his entire life). Raul Lagos joined us for two _very critical_ days, as did Crystal Dyer. Andrea Sherwood, who masterminded the whole affair, and literally ran herself into the ground (and bounced back again) putting it all together. Sue Brockway, who's worked harder than any of us, and is an inspiration to us all througout the year. And Sherri Austin, calm, collected, and steady as a rock, who worked more shifts than any of the rest of us, seldom without a positive attitude and a smile on her face.

And we couldn't have made it happen without the Tyson Transportation Group and driver Bob Oliver, who took the Tyson 18-wheeler into tight spots the entire route, from the Missouri the the Mississippi.

Thanks to Tyson operations management, especially Jim Schmitz, Dan Brooks and Bruce Pautsch for their support. Special thanks to Joslin complex manager, Todd Reed for, among other things, loaning us the trailer and Dave Hinojosa for a week. Thanks to the other Iowa complex managers for letting their teams be part of this marvelous event.

And most especially, thanks to all of the Tyson Team Members who came early, stayed late, worked in the heat, endured the traffic, the lines, the hectic pace. What you do every day makes sure our families are fed each night. What you did this week will see to it that a lot of other families are also one step farther away from being hungry. It's an honor and a privelege to work with you.

Hope to see you all next July!

Le Claire--the last day of RAGBRAI--Tyson Foods Joslin Team

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:31:56 GMT

This is it. The last day. We're told there are a lot of tired and sore butts from seven days in the saddle. I can tell you there are a lot of tired butts on our team. The healthy crew from the Tyson Joslin plant came out to serve one last meal in sight of riders dipping their tires in the Mississippi. They worked hard and earned their rightful spot as Tyson Hunger All-Stars. As always, they were rockstars.

Time to pull everything out of the Ryder truck then off our separate ways.

RAGBRAI--North Liberty

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:42:03 GMT

Thursday night took the crew into the overnight town of North Liberty, just outside Iowa City. This town had the theme thing down, with a pirate at every turn. William Sanders, Bob Purvis and Barb Larsen, who had worked the morning shift in Belle Plaine, were joined by fellow Columbus Junction teammates, Wade Bruns, Peggy Hobach, Aaylan Wheeler and Mark Coleman for the last of the "two-a-day" events, a three-day marathon that just about put the traveling crew under.