January 2019
HELP CURB THE SUMMER HUNGER TIDE
For nearly 200,000 Iowa children, summer is not solely about fun and games. It’s also about hunger. In the absence of meals served during the regular school day, these children face the reality of days without access to healthy meals and snacks. To help curb this hunger tide, local sponsors and partner organizations are needed for the federally funded Summer Food Service Program aimed at children in low-income areas of the state. How can your organization get involved? Choose to sponsor a program. Schools, local government agencies, camps, faith-based and other private non-profit organizations may become program sponsors. If your organization already provides services to the community, has capable staff and good management practices to run a food service, you can administer the Summer Food Service Program. Choose to be a meal service site under another organizations sponsorship. Sites may be located in a variety of settings, including parks, community buildings, churches, migrant centers, schools, and apartment complexes to name just a few. Do you provide activities or programming to youth over the summer? You may be well positioned to offer summer meals in conjunction with the services you already provide. |
Promote summer meal sites in your area. Help spread the word to children and families in your community about the time and location of summer meal sites. Promote summer meals via your organization newsletters, bulletins, and website and hang banners and posters onsite. Choose to partner with summer meal sites. Volunteer to provide activities for kids and teens or help to serve and supervise the meal service. Even if your organization cannot take on the responsibilities of a sponsor or site, you can team up with a sponsor to provide support to an existing program. Site programming can assist with bringing children back to the site in addition to keeping them mentally and physically active over the summer. Organizations can also partner by providing transportation for children to and from meal sites, a barrier for many locations. In 2018, the summer food service program sponsors served 1,264,826 meals and snacks, 35,418 less meals/snacks than the previous summer. The need for program sponsors, site locations, and partner organizations is crucial to better meet the need of Iowa families. Organizations interested in learning how to be involved are invited to register to participate in an informational webinar on February 28th from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit the Department’s Summer Food Service Program webpage or contact Stephanie Dross at 515-281-4760 orstephanie.dross@iowa.gov. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
ANNOUNCING 2019 BORLAUG DAY POSTER CONTEST
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In honor of Dr. Norman Borlaug and World Food Prize Day in Iowa the World Food Prize invites all Iowa high school students to participate in the 1st Annual Norman Borlaug Day Poster Contest!
All students interested in participating can submit their own unique piece of art that encapsulates their vision of the future of food, agriculture and food security with the hope of instilling inspiration for their peers to move towards careers that will support the global initiative of a food secure world.
The winning art piece will be revealed at the 2019 Iowa Hunger Summit onMonday, October 14th and used as the focal point of the 2019 Borlaug Day poster. It will be shared with classrooms across our state to educate and inspire students to aspire to be Iowa's#NextNorm.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Submission Open Date: January 29, 2019
Submission Deadline: May 30, 2019
Decision Announced: July 1, 2019
Iowa Hunger Summit: October 14, 2019
More information can be found at www.worldfoodprize.org/
Breakout Sessions provide an opportunity for 500+ attendees of the Iowa Hunger Summit to engage in in-depth conversations with Iowa’s many active initiatives working to alleviate food insecurity and offers participants tangible tools for further engagement locally and around the world.
This year we are offering two different opportunities for organizations to engage with our 500+ attendees through breakout sessions.
GENERAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS
As we have had in previous years, we offer opportunities for local, state and national organizations to host and organize sessions for our attendees to further engage with initiatives that are actively working in our communities to alleviate hunger.
STUDENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Student Breakout Sessions provide an opportunity for high school and middle school students to engage in in-depth conversation with a variety of national and state based organizations that host sessions and offer practical tools for students to further involve themselves in combating food insecurity in Iowa and around the world.
For more information, visit our website atwww.IowaHungerSummit.org/APPLY
UPDATING THE IOWA HUNGER DIRECTORY
Annually we strive to update the Iowa Hunger Directory in an effort to ensure profile information is relevant. I encourage you to take a quick look at your profile and provide any feedback relating to the new year.
To make any needed updates to your profile, please feel free to reply to this message directly, otherwise you may submit updates using this form. It is my hope to have updates submitted by Friday, February 8.
As always, I am eager to hear from you, so feel free to drop me a note on what you have been working on and what is yet to come!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Healthy Food Stakeholder Meeting
Tuesday, February 26
Freedom Blend Coffee
2329 Hickman Road
Des Moines
10th Annual Feed Greater Des Moines Conference
Wednesday, March 6
Grand View University
2811 East 14th Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50316
SAVE THE DATE
