Hunger Action Month 2017

September is Hunger Action Month

The feeling of running on empty is a reality for over 40 million Americans, including 700,000 of our friends and neighbors living in our great state of Wisconsin. This means that they lack the resources or access they need to get enough meals for a healthy and active life.

Together, we can make sure that no child, adult or senior living in America ever has to run on empty and so this September, we’re asking everyone to come together to join the fight and raise awareness to help end hunger.

An empty plate means an empty stomach. And on an empty stomach, no one can reach their full potential. Join us this September to help that every person living in Wisconsin can achieve their full potential. 

Everyone has a role to play in ending hunger. Here's how you can get involved:

Go Orange, Fight Hunger on 9/14 for Hunger Action Day

Thursday September 14 is Hunger Action Day and it is a time for everybody to focus our efforts on one day for greater impact and awareness. Just like Pink is the color for breast cancer awareness, Orange is the color for hunger awareness.

We are asking that supporters and partners take action by wearing orange on 9/8, taking a selfie and posting it to social media with the tags @FeedingAmerica @FeedingWI #HungerActionMonth and the social media tag for your local, regional food bank.

Please download the Go Orange, Fight Hunger toolkit for the social tags of our participating food banks and sample social messages.

Advocate

This Fall, Congress will be voting on a budget that would make harmful, structural changes and cuts to the SNAP (FoodShare in Wisconsin, also known as food stamps) program, totaling $160 billion over the next 10 years.

In Wisconsin, this would increase the need for food assistance by over 40 million meals. 

The emergency food system is not structured to handle need at this scale. Private charities like food banks work in concert with locally administered federal nutrition programs like SNAP to ensure that our friends and neighbors have the care, support, and nutrition they need to work, learn, and live healthy lives.

In order for the charitable food system to do its job effectively, federal nutrition programs must also keep its promise to provide assistance to the people who are eligible and qualify for assistance.

We need your help to reach out to Congress in September to tell them that these cuts do not reflect our values as Wisconsinites. You can learn more and take action here.

Educate

Educate yourself and others about why block grants are bad

Nothing runs on empty - not people, not devices and not anti-hunger programs.

Over the last few years, there have been some renewed calls to "block grant" hunger fighting programs like the school meals program and others. We join the many anti-hunger and anti-poverty groups are opposed to these efforts because block grants would structurally change the way many effective anti-hunger programs work and essentially break the guarantee that when times are bad, there will be help.

This Hunger Action Month, educate yourself on why block grants to nutrition programs are bad and then share our fun infographic with your social networks. 

Educate others by telling your story

We are launching a storytelling project that aims to raise up the stories of our friends and neighbors who are participating in the FoodShare program, who have had to utilize it in the past and used it to build a better life for themselves, or who have needed our services. If you have a personal success story that you'd like to share, please consider telling us your story.

Educate your social network with a Paper Plate Selfie

We will also be asking our supporters and followers to tell their story of what they can’t do on an empty stomach and what they can do to fight hunger through a “Paper Plate Selfie” campaign.

Messages on blank paper plates have long been a staple of hunger relief advocacy. By utilizing empty plates to tell a person’s story or commitment to fight hunger, it is a reminder that far too many people in our community and nation do not have the access to food for a healthy life.

This is simple to do:

  1. Grab a blank paper plate
  2. Write you can’t do on an empty stomach
  3. On another plate, write what you can do to fight hunger
  4. Take selfies
  5. Post both to social media with the hashtag #hungeractionmonth

To make this easy, you can download and print out paper plates (front version here and back version here) for you to fill out.

Donate

Donate Your Social Real Estate

Add a Facebook Profile Picture Frame:

  • Please visit www.facebook.com/profilepicframes on your web browser.
  • Select the Causes category. You should see the Feeding America cause. Click the thumbnail.
  • Once the frame is added to your profile picture, click the USE AS PROFILE PICTURE button. 

Add a cover picture to your Facebook or Twitter account:

  • Download a cover photo for Facebook or Twitter
  • Upload as your cover photo in your Facebook and/or Twitter Accounts

Volunteer

Please visit our events page to learn about the volunteer opportunities at our participating food banks throughout the month.