My team was swamped but I wanted to ensure that the group had a great experience at our facility.  The Young African Leaders were hand-picked by the U.S. Department of State to come to the U.S. and learn about how non-profit organizations operate in an effort to better the communities they live in. The group was comprised of government officials, nutrition experts, media professionals and future food bankers.  This was a group of great leaders!

So I made a few calls, sent e-mails, researched the group and began the process of setting up a program for them to learn about the CAFB. 

The group wanted to learn how we serve the community and how our programs help those without access to healthy and nutritious foods.  On their visit, the leaders learned all about our Food For Kids Program, Harvest for Health, Agency Relations, Nutrition Education and our Public Policy & Community Outreach Program.

The leaders were amazed at our various nutrition education programs and were surprised to learn about the number of Americans struggling with hunger, high obesity rates and the lack of access to grocery stores throughout the country; and particularly in the National Capital Region.   

The Young African Leaders met with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, so I was honored when we were  put on the same agenda as our great leaders.  The greatest honor, however, was knowing that the food bank that I proudly work for is not only a leader in the community but a leader around the world.

One of the participants, Claudia (pictured above) from Congo B, recently sent me an e-mail thanking me and the CAFB for all of the information we shared. In her email she stated,  “…I was amazed by the initiatives at the Capital Area Food Bank. I will definitely be writing you more to seek your advice and assistance. I think you are actually doing a great job and I wonder if we would be able to make such a success here in Congo B. Yep, I came back yesterday with a mind full with new ideas.”

Claudia’s words confirm that the Capital Area Food Bank is on the right track in the community.  I encourage everyone that lacks food to contact us at 202-526-5344.  We are ready, willing and able to help.  Most importantly we enjoy what we do.

We are gearing up for our Skip Lunch Feed a Bunch campaign coming up on September 22nd.  We don’t want you to actually skip lunch but we want you to donate what you would normally spend on that salad, sandwich or coffee to the food bank.  With just five dollars the food bank can provide 15 meals. 

 Companies can even form teams and sign up to participate!  In this friendly competition, teams that raise the most money will receive some cool incentives. 

Feeding America, the Capital Area Food Bank’s umbrella organization, declared September National Hunger Action Month so we will accept donations throughout the month. 

Just as easily as you fork over money for lunch, reach into your pockets on September 22nd and give a little to help our neighbors in need.  It doesn’t take a lot!

It seems like agencies that serve underprivileged people are always stretched to their limits.  So our challenge with the FGU program is to help agencies to learn about how to grow, store, and prepare fresh produce in a way that is exciting, but also manageable for busy agency staff members. Ultimately, our goal is to not only provide healthy food to front line organizations, but to help them become their own source of fresh produce through farmers markets, urban gardening, and partnerships with local growers.

Some agencies are a little hesitant at first, but they get the hang of it in no time. After two years of participating in the FGU Fresh Produce Grant, Martha’s Table has started growing their own produce on location! Last summer they built raised, movable garden beds in an underutilized parking lot by their trash bins.  This will be a learning tool for the kids in their daycare program. Bounty from the garden will supplement the produce received from Clagett farm to help feed kids in the daycare, as well as folks from the “McKenna’s Wagon” mobile food pantry. Growing in the beds are wax beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, kale, celery, morning glories, and lots of herbs. They even built a trashcan compost which can be easily rolled for aeration.  Check out the Martha’s Table post to see the whole story of their urban garden adventure!

Aromatic herbs help deter the smell from the trash bins behind them.

Can you believe they did all this in a matter of weeks? Go Martha’s Table!

The FGU Fresh Produce Grant is a partnership project of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm and the CAFB with the goal of providing up to 50% of Clagett’s harvest to low-income individuals in the Washington, DC metro area.  We invite you to help us Share the Harvest by contributing to this wonderful collaboration. For more information about the FGU Fresh Produce Grant, or to get an application for your CAFB agency visit our FGU page.

The CAFB is now serving over 478,000 people through a network of partner agencies annually.  About half of these are children.  An estimated 88,400 people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen or other agency served by the CAFB – 19,000 more than four years ago.

It may be surprising to learn that many of the people needing food assistance have jobs, over 50 percent. They are professional people who are underemployed, people working at minimum wage jobs trying to make ends meet, even senior citizens who have had to return to the workforce.

 Hunger in America is unacceptable. We can all do something to help – donate funds or hold a fundraiser benefiting the food bank. You can also volunteer in our warehouse.  We appreciate the way the community supports our efforts by holding food drives. You can even guest write a blog post for us, retweet our messages on Twitter or follow us on Facebook.  If everyone does a little, it will go a long way. 

A topline document on Hunger in America 2010 or the entire study is available.