October 2017

U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture

Former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Ed Schafer,and Dan Glickman participated in a bipartisan conversation that provided an insightful look into many of the food insecurity issues facing our country and communities. Among those issues are: access to nutritious and safe food, the future of SNAP, the upcoming Farm Bill and the lack of full scale grocery stores throughout our nation’s food deserts.

Watch the U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture Here

Iowa Hunger Coalition Announcement

Regenea Hurte, Executive Director of the Iowa Food Bank Association, announced her acceptance of the role of Executive Director of the newly established Iowa Hunger Coalition (IHC), a new, permanent advocacy group that will work to develop and implement effective anti-hunger policies across the state of Iowa.

For more information on the Iowa Food Bank Association and the Iowa Hunger Coalition please check out their Release at www.iowahungercoalition.org/news/.

Catch the Announcement Here

Who is ALICE?

United Ways of Iowa Executive Director, Deann Cook, gave a brief overview of the demographics, budget numbers, challenges and consequences facing ALICE which led into a more in-depth conversation amongst Regional FNS Administrator,Darlene Barnes, Amy Meyer, Executive Director of the United Way of Mahaska County, and Volunteer Engagement Director of the United Way of Wapello County, Ali Wilson, on the ways they are proactively investing in unique solutions to address barriers in their communities. 

Find out more about ALICE Here

Watch the Full Luncheon Here

Watch the entire Iowa Hunger Summit Luncheon as Governor Reynolds read and signed the official proclamation declaring October 16 as Norman E. Borlaug/World Food Prize Day in Iowa and Amb. Quinn awarded the 2017 Robert D. Ray Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award to The Most Reverend Bishop Richard E. Pates.

Luncheon Keynote

In her luncheon keynote, Diana Aviv, CEO of Feeding America, explored four critical trends that are reshaping the field of hunger relief: technological advances, funder expectations, last mile-efficiencies, and the legislative landscape.

As the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs that provides 4 billion meals to more than 46 million people across the United States, supports programs that improve access to nutritious meals, and is committed to leading the fight to end hunger.

Check out the Keynote Here

The afternoon breakout sessions included presentations and conversations with over 20 different local, state and national organizations.To learn more about the sessions that took place at the 2017 Iowa Hunger Summit check out the breakout pages below.

If you are interested in connecting further with the facilitators and organizations who hosted this year's sessions, please feel free to reach out to Madeline Goebel at mgoebel@worldfoodprize.org to get connected!