02/17/2012 by jlantrips | Comments (0)
BoDawgs Gives To Back-Pack Kids When BoDawgs opened in June of 2010, they set out to bring the best hot dawgs around to the students and community of the University. From the very beginning, their business plan had much more on the horizon than great dawgs at a fair price. Sure, they had the hook of each ¼ lbs BoDawg being charbroiled to perfection, placed in a fresh baked roll, smothered with secret island sauces and your choice of toppings. They also strive to make a difference in their very own community have partnered with the Food Bank of Northern Nevada to help support the Back-Pack Kids program. The Back-Pack Kids program provides weekend food for children in the community who are homeless or chronically hungry. Currently, there are more than 1,100 bags per week being distributed to children in Washoe County and each bag costs $5. The program is supported 100% by donations from the community and the Food Bank is so grateful for partners such as BoDawgs! Thank you so much to BoDawgs for their commitment to our community, to the Food Bank, and to these kids.
For more information on BoDawgs and where you can find them, check out www.bodawgsco.com or like them on Facebook!
02/01/2012 by jlantrip | Comments (0)
It’s a Grand Opening!
Join us at Dillard’s at the Summit for a grand opening! Our new friends at Kiehl’s Cosmetics are celebrating their arrival in Reno tomorrow, Thursday, February 2 from 2 – 4 p.m. at Dillards.
This is the first time the New York-based line of skin, hair and body care products will be available in the area. These iconic products are made from natural ingredients right here in the U.S.A.
For the Grand Opening, they are making a donation to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. Customers are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food donations to the event. There will be free skin consultations and samples! See you there.
01/23/2012 by jlantrip | Comments (0)
Feeding America CEO Vicki Escarra talked to the Wall Street Journal about the issue of hunger in our country.
By MELANIE GRAYCE WEST It's Vicki B. Escarra's dream to someday eliminate the need for her job: Ms. Escarra is president and chief executive of Feeding America, the largest food-relief group in the U.S.
Unfortunately, that milepost doesn't look reachable anytime soon. Feeding America last year worked with more than 200 food banks to serve 37 million hungry Americans roughly 3.3 billion pounds of food, much of which was donated from manufacturers and retailers. About a quarter of the food comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the form of commodities.
But federal funding cuts to the commodity program in the past year have reduced donations to food banks by 45%. And this has put more pressure on Feeding America, whose annual budget of $100 million includes no government funds, to raise money from the private sector. Under Ms. Escarra's leadership, the group is now reaching beyond traditional food-manufacturing partners to seek help from banks, insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Ms. Escarra has overseen big changes already. Upon assuming leadership of the nonprofit in 2006, after more than 30 years at Delta Air Lines Inc., where she rose to chief customer service officer and chief marketing officer, she immediately launched efforts to raise the organization's profile and elevate its message about hunger in America. Under Ms. Escarra, the group changed its name to Feeding America from America's Second Harvest, and last year raised nearly $100 million—the most ever.
The charity is past the halfway point in a five-year $500 million fund-raising campaign. Though less than half of the goal has been raised, Ms. Escarra says Feeding America has grown and is providing more food than ever thanks in large part to a "game-changing" gift of $62 million from billionaire investor and philanthropist Kirk Kerkorian.
HIGH DEMAND Vicki Escarra (left) says the number of people seeking her group's help has soared.
The 57-year-old Ms. Escarra recently spoke with The Wall Street Journal about meeting the growing demand for food, the evolution of the movement and where it's heading. Here are edited excerpts:
Relief at Risk
WSJ : Feeding America is in the business of solving hunger, yet it's been a work in progress for more than 30 years. What are the major roadblocks?
MS. ESCARRA: Getting people to focus consistently on programs that provide enough support for lower-income families. We go in and out of support depending upon the administration and what's happening as far as budgets and deficits go. Up until this most recent debate around the deficit, hunger-relief programs have always been protected. That is at risk today.
WSJ: Do you think there has been any progress in the past three decades?
MS. ESCARRA: We've had fits and starts. I think we had some progress in the '60s and '70s, and then in the early '80s we hit a snag. We have seen a huge increase in the number of people that are coming to us for service, almost doubling in the last four years.
Whose Responsibility?
WSJ: Some people argue that the government is not responsible for solving hunger and that maybe private charities can provide the best solution.
MS. ESCARRA: I hear that all the time, but the reality is that private charity is only providing a very small percentage of support to these families. The majority of support families provide themselves, and then programs that the government has set up and all the other programs provide consistent day-in, day-out support. I would argue that these government programs are the major underpinning of support for roughly 49 million Americans.
WSJ: With the cuts in the past year in commodity food coming from the Department of Agriculture, how is the hunger community adapting?
MS. ESCARRA: We're just beginning to see the decrease. I was in Los Angeles two weeks ago at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank; 40% of their food comes from federal commodities, and they are seeing roughly a 40% reduction. They are preparing to buy more food, which means more fund-raising. And they are preparing to give out less food as we go into the holidays—less food to clients that need it.
WSJ: As a provider of food for millions of Americans, what is your role in making sure those meals are healthy and nutritious? Is any kind of food, including unhealthy food, enough when someone is hungry?
MS. ESCARRA: We are very focused on healthy food, but we do not dictate that everything we serve is healthy. We look at "sometimes food" and "always food" and we try to move our membership toward providing healthier foods.
Innovation and Survival
WSJ: Is it possible for struggling food banks and pantries to innovate, in terms of providing healthier food, and survive at the same time?
MS. ESCARRA: I think you can. We've got to find more food. And we have to continue to find healthy food for lower-income families to eat.
There are six billion pounds of produce that are usually tilled up or tilled under. We've got a big initiative going on right now of adding a billion pounds of new produce in our network. We're working closely with farmers, both locally and nationally. We know there is a high need and not as much demand for fruits and vegetables. So we're pushing that as an initiative.
WSJ: Is there donor fatigue within hunger organizations?
MS. ESCARRA: I don't think there's donor fatigue. I think there are millions of donors that don't yet understand the issue or prevalence of hunger in America. I don't think we, as a group, have done a good job communicating that everyone knows someone that's struggling with hunger; it's 1 in 6. We need to broaden our net of influence and the donors that we are bringing into hunger-relief organizations.
WSJ: How are you broadening your network of influence?
MS. ESCARRA: The first is to broaden our corporate donors. We've got fabulous donors we've been partners with for over 30 years, like General Mills and Kraft. Now we're partnering with financial-services organizations like Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. We also have broadened to include insurance companies like Nationwide and Allstate, and pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb. Looking outside the traditional food industry has been a big opportunity for us.
Ms. West is a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. She can be reached at melanie.west@wsj.com.
A link to this article on the Wall Street Journal online can be found at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577011793451898270.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
01/18/2012 by jlantrip | Comments (1)
Take the Challenge on January 23 - 27, 2012
EAT HEALTHY ON $4.06 A DAY FOR 5 DAYS.
Experience first-hand the food budget challenges of 330,000 Nevadans on SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps).
The Food Bank of Northern Nevada invites you to take the SNAP Experience 5-day challenge on January 23-27. SNAP Benefits are vital to many of the Food Bank's clients. More than 300,000 people currently rely on SNAP benefits in Nevada and of those, more than half of the benefits awarded in our state go to feed hungry children and seniors, the most vulnerable of our citizens.
The Food Bank of Northern Nevada's sister organization, Three Square in Las Vegas is organizing a statewide awareness campaign in which participants agree to live on the average SNAP benefit, which is $4.06 per day for five days in January. The SNAP Experience is set for January 23-27, 2012.
The more that we at the Food Bank thought about asking our supporters to take this challenge, the more that we knew that some of us needed to do it too. Several staff members have signed up already including our president & CEO, Cherie Jamason, and our Chief Operations Officer, Clyde Takahashi. Whether you decide to take the challenge or not, check in with us to see some of the things we are discovering during the SNAP Experience.
Register your intention at SNAP Experience and share your experience with others about the challenges and opportunities you find during the experience.
Want to know what to do and what is expected for the challenge? Click here for some very helpful guidelines and expectations.
Click here for some tools to help you during the challenge.