April Food Day

Hi Everyone, Meg at Pigtown Design made me aware of this wonderful program just a few days ago so today's post will be not be about fooling you, like lots of your friends will do today on April Fool's Day, but instead about helping others in need for April "Food" Day!

Today is April Food Day and it’s no joke.

More and more people in our country are going hungry because they have lost their jobs, their benefits have ended, they can’t find a job and have no place left to turn but to their local food bank. But the nation’s food banks are stretched to the limit because of the increased number of people needing their services.

You might think that none of your friends are going hungry, but I read a comment on a piece NPR did about a photography exhibit about hunger in America, and think it could apply to any one of us:

…a dear friend and community member crossed over. At his one year crossing remembrance, stories began to come out and I realized with great sorrow, our friend went hungry. I feel sad when I think of it, that our dear friend who gave so much and was so generous in spirit and friendship was hungry and we never knew that. How did we not make it our business to know how it was with him we loved so?

Please make a donation to Feeding America, or your local food bank, and count yourself as one of the lucky ones if you’re not going to bed hungry every night. Feeding America has set up a special URL for April Food Day so they can see how much we’ve donated.

If you’re a blogger, tweeter, facebooker or have an e-mail list, please share this address. Let me know if you’ve posted about April Food Day, and we will add you to the list of participants on the April Food Day site.

Here are some facts about hunger in America:

• Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006, when we were feeding 25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.
• That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food and groceries.
• Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans each week than we did in 2006. 
• Thirty-six percent of the households served have at least one person working.
• More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.
• The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent since 2006.
• Feeding America food banks provide food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters.
• 68 percent of pantries, 42 percent of soup kitchens, and 15 percent of emergency shelters rely solely on volunteers and have no paid staff.
• 55 percent, are faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations; 33 percent are other types of non-profit organizations.

Who to contact to make a difference:

• Feeding America’s website: http://feedingamerica.org/default.aspx
• The link to their April Food Day donation page: http://help.feedingamerica.org/aprilfoodday
• The April Food Day blog: http://aprilfoodday.blogspot.com/

Thank you very much!