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Tuesday was National Hunger Awareness Day. Now in its fifth year, this day serves as a platform for domestic hunger-relief organizations to raise awareness about hunger in America and the work we do.
Project MANA (Making Adequate Nutrition Accessible) is a local hunger relief agency that been serving the North Shore of Lake Tahoe since 1991, and the Town of Truckee since 1996. We are a member of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada and a partner agency with United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra. We are also actively involved in the Parasol Community Collaboration, the Community Collaboration of Truckee Tahoe and a network of collaborations that includes over fifty non-profits, schools and county agencies. We are a certified "Serv-Safe" (International Food Safety Council) organization.
I think when most people think about a "food bank" they think of unemployed or homeless people getting a meal. The truth is that there are over 30 million Americans who are what the USDA defines as "food insecure," which basically means they are not starving but they do not know where their next meal is coming from. This includes millions of seniors who have worked hard their whole lives to retire on a fixed income. Many have to choose between buying medication, paying rent and bills, or buying food. It also includes children whose most substantial meal of the day may come from the school lunch program.
I know it is hard for many people to understand how there can be hunger in America when there is such an abundance of everything. Walk into any supermarket and look at all the food you can buy. Fresh vegetables and fruits displayed with barely a blemish on them. Whole grains, dairy products, and baked goods by the ton. Lean meats, seafood, and if you don't see what you want you can ask for it.
Another question we are often asked is, "How can there be hunger when we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic?" To start with, people on a budget tend to buy foods that fill them up and last longer. These are foods that are high in fats and sugar. A pound of hamburger, macaroni and cheese, and bulk cookies are cheaper then salmon, and olive oil. A 99 cent value meal looks attractive to someone on a limited budget. We are told that to combat the obesity epidemic we need to eat lean meats, fruits, and vegetables and lay off the foods high in fats and sugars. One of the issues we run into, when working with women and nutrition education, is the cultural shift we have made as a nation away from traditional home cooked meals towards convenience foods that are zapped in a microwave. Much of this shift, I believe, is due to marketing. Try counting, for just one day, the commercials and advertisements for fast foods, convenience foods, and comfort foods targeted at our children.
I have three teenage sons who were raised in Belize for most of their early years. Desserts and fast foods were not a part of their diet because it was not dictated by the culture we were living in. I feel fortunate because they are not addicted to the fast food chains or rich desserts. Their friends who often visit us on the weekends sometimes sneak their soft drinks and convenience foods into our house. I have seen as much as two six-packs of cola that one boy felt he "needed" for the weekend. Another time, we were watching a football game and a commercial came on for a popular giant hamburger at a local fast food restaurant. I saw the effect it was having on one of my son's friends who happens to be overweight. He looked like he went into a trance and was practically drooling while the commercial was on. This was after finishing a home-cooked meal with us. Within five minutes, my son was asking me if he could borrow the car because his friend wanted to go and get one of the giant hamburgers.
At the local level, the majority of Project MANA's clients work and some work two jobs. After paying their bills they do not have funds left over to buy sufficient food for their families. We provide a service that supplements their diets. We do not provide all their food. We offer fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and baked goods. If someone needs more, they can request an emergency bag six times a year. After that, if they still need assistance, we will provide it but we ask them to come in for an assessment. This is done partly to determine the level of need and partly to identify if there are other issues going on that might be better addressed by referring them to one of the other agencies in the collaboration.
How can someone who works be "food insecure?" A month ago I was working on a grant proposal and I thought it would be effective to do a profile of a family budget that demonstrated the level of need. First, I put together a form that identified expenses in one column and income in the other. Then we started calling clients at random. We called both two parent and single parent families. Questions we asked included, "how much do you pay for rent, utilities, insurance, childcare, transportation, and health care?" We did not even ask about car payments, phone bills, or school expenses. For income we asked how much they earn each month from all sources. We did six complete profiles and in every one of them the expenses far exceeded the income. The hardest time for all families was towards the end of the month when they were waiting for a paycheck and had no money to buy food. That is when most of them used Project MANA's services.
In addition to weekly food distributions, we also provide Nutrition Education to elementary and pre-schools students, Kids Can Cook, an after school program that targets latch key kids, Hunger Awareness Banquets for 7th graders to increase awareness about local as well as global hunger issues, Dar Luz a program targeting Latino women that teaches nutrition and smart shopping, and Community Demonstration Gardens to demonstrate the nutritional and economic value of having your own garden. In addition, we have a program that delivers groceries to "homebound" clients. These are clients who either because of age or illness cannot come to our weekly food distributions. We identify community volunteers to shop for those with restricted diets and deliver groceries to the client's home. If you know of someone in need of this service, please give us a call with the information.
Project MANA survives on grants and personal donations from the community. We purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from a wholesaler, we buy non-perishables from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada in Reno, and we supplement our stock with numerous food drives throughout the year. We also do "food rescue," where we go to local supermarkets and farmer's markets to rescue food that is going to be thrown away because it has reached its "best if used by" date. In 2005 we rescued and redistributed 106,647 pounds of food to over 24,000 individuals (duplicated #). As part of a new program that we hope to start in July we will be providing seniors with nutrition education in collaboration with IVGID and Washoe County. Project MANA has a full-time Executive Director, part-time Office Manager, and a full-time Truckee Program Manager. We have one full-time Americorp Volunteer and a community volunteer bank of 100 active volunteers across the North Shore and Truckee.
This is a snapshot of what your local hunger relief agency does and I hope you have a better understanding of our role in the community. If you have questions, please feel free to stop by our office at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-profit Center (Parasol) at 948 Incline Way. We will be glad to answer any questions and give you the grand tour.
Project MANA (Making Adequate Nutrition Accessible) is a local hunger relief agency that been serving the North Shore of Lake Tahoe since 1991, and the Town of Truckee since 1996. We are a member of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada and a partner agency with United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra. We are also actively involved in the Parasol Community Collaboration, the Community Collaboration of Truckee Tahoe and a network of collaborations that includes over fifty non-profits, schools and county agencies. We are a certified "Serv-Safe" (International Food Safety Council) organization.
I think when most people think about a "food bank" they think of unemployed or homeless people getting a meal. The truth is that there are over 30 million Americans who are what the USDA defines as "food insecure," which basically means they are not starving but they do not know where their next meal is coming from. This includes millions of seniors who have worked hard their whole lives to retire on a fixed income. Many have to choose between buying medication, paying rent and bills, or buying food. It also includes children whose most substantial meal of the day may come from the school lunch program.
I know it is hard for many people to understand how there can be hunger in America when there is such an abundance of everything. Walk into any supermarket and look at all the food you can buy. Fresh vegetables and fruits displayed with barely a blemish on them. Whole grains, dairy products, and baked goods by the ton. Lean meats, seafood, and if you don't see what you want you can ask for it.
Another question we are often asked is, "How can there be hunger when we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic?" To start with, people on a budget tend to buy foods that fill them up and last longer. These are foods that are high in fats and sugar. A pound of hamburger, macaroni and cheese, and bulk cookies are cheaper then salmon, and olive oil. A 99 cent value meal looks attractive to someone on a limited budget. We are told that to combat the obesity epidemic we need to eat lean meats, fruits, and vegetables and lay off the foods high in fats and sugars. One of the issues we run into, when working with women and nutrition education, is the cultural shift we have made as a nation away from traditional home cooked meals towards convenience foods that are zapped in a microwave. Much of this shift, I believe, is due to marketing. Try counting, for just one day, the commercials and advertisements for fast foods, convenience foods, and comfort foods targeted at our children.
I have three teenage sons who were raised in Belize for most of their early years. Desserts and fast foods were not a part of their diet because it was not dictated by the culture we were living in. I feel fortunate because they are not addicted to the fast food chains or rich desserts. Their friends who often visit us on the weekends sometimes sneak their soft drinks and convenience foods into our house. I have seen as much as two six-packs of cola that one boy felt he "needed" for the weekend. Another time, we were watching a football game and a commercial came on for a popular giant hamburger at a local fast food restaurant. I saw the effect it was having on one of my son's friends who happens to be overweight. He looked like he went into a trance and was practically drooling while the commercial was on. This was after finishing a home-cooked meal with us. Within five minutes, my son was asking me if he could borrow the car because his friend wanted to go and get one of the giant hamburgers.
At the local level, the majority of Project MANA's clients work and some work two jobs. After paying their bills they do not have funds left over to buy sufficient food for their families. We provide a service that supplements their diets. We do not provide all their food. We offer fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and baked goods. If someone needs more, they can request an emergency bag six times a year. After that, if they still need assistance, we will provide it but we ask them to come in for an assessment. This is done partly to determine the level of need and partly to identify if there are other issues going on that might be better addressed by referring them to one of the other agencies in the collaboration.
How can someone who works be "food insecure?" A month ago I was working on a grant proposal and I thought it would be effective to do a profile of a family budget that demonstrated the level of need. First, I put together a form that identified expenses in one column and income in the other. Then we started calling clients at random. We called both two parent and single parent families. Questions we asked included, "how much do you pay for rent, utilities, insurance, childcare, transportation, and health care?" We did not even ask about car payments, phone bills, or school expenses. For income we asked how much they earn each month from all sources. We did six complete profiles and in every one of them the expenses far exceeded the income. The hardest time for all families was towards the end of the month when they were waiting for a paycheck and had no money to buy food. That is when most of them used Project MANA's services.
In addition to weekly food distributions, we also provide Nutrition Education to elementary and pre-schools students, Kids Can Cook, an after school program that targets latch key kids, Hunger Awareness Banquets for 7th graders to increase awareness about local as well as global hunger issues, Dar Luz a program targeting Latino women that teaches nutrition and smart shopping, and Community Demonstration Gardens to demonstrate the nutritional and economic value of having your own garden. In addition, we have a program that delivers groceries to "homebound" clients. These are clients who either because of age or illness cannot come to our weekly food distributions. We identify community volunteers to shop for those with restricted diets and deliver groceries to the client's home. If you know of someone in need of this service, please give us a call with the information.
Project MANA survives on grants and personal donations from the community. We purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from a wholesaler, we buy non-perishables from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada in Reno, and we supplement our stock with numerous food drives throughout the year. We also do "food rescue," where we go to local supermarkets and farmer's markets to rescue food that is going to be thrown away because it has reached its "best if used by" date. In 2005 we rescued and redistributed 106,647 pounds of food to over 24,000 individuals (duplicated #). As part of a new program that we hope to start in July we will be providing seniors with nutrition education in collaboration with IVGID and Washoe County. Project MANA has a full-time Executive Director, part-time Office Manager, and a full-time Truckee Program Manager. We have one full-time Americorp Volunteer and a community volunteer bank of 100 active volunteers across the North Shore and Truckee.
This is a snapshot of what your local hunger relief agency does and I hope you have a better understanding of our role in the community. If you have questions, please feel free to stop by our office at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-profit Center (Parasol) at 948 Incline Way. We will be glad to answer any questions and give you the grand tour.
