Showing entries tagged: 'hunger-and-health'

#ProducePalooza

Yesterday, hundreds of UnitedHealthcare employees volunteered at our food banks across the state to help celebrate UnitedHealthcare's incredible $700,000 gift to Feeding Wisconsin to help our network of food banks and food pantries improve our collective ability to source, store, and distribute more fresh produce. This incredible partnership has given us opportunity to work together, across the state, on the same day at the same time to advance not only our mission of fighting hunger, improving health, and strengthening communities, but also UnitedHealthcare’s mission of helping people live healthier lives and making the health system better for everyone.

Stories from the Field: Fighting Hunger and Improving Health

As members of Congress continue to debate the future of healthcare, potential changes to the structure and funding of important healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare continue to concern us, as cuts would undoubtedly continue to put pressure on the household budgets of our friends and neighbors utilizing these programs for their healthcare. At the same time, Congress continues to mull over massive cuts to SNAP (FoodShare in Wisconsin). SNAP and health programs like Medicaid and Medicare work in concert with each other to ensure that all eligible families have the food and healthcare they need to work toward a better tomorrow. Our Outreach specialists help clients every day with these programs. Here are two stories from the field about how SNAP helps to improve health.

Take Action Against FoodShare Cuts

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin) is an important nutrition assistance program that helps to strengthen communities by providing families with low-incomes a bit of assistance to ensure that they have the food they need to work, learn, and get their lives back on track. It is a promise that Americans have made to ensure that none of our friends and neighbors have to be suffer from hunger day after day. Take action on both federal and state proposals to fundamentally alter this promise we have made to Wisconsin families living with low-incomes.

Financial crisis isn't always predictable

The FoodShare Helpline talks with thousands of people each year who experience tough times. An underlying theme is that crisis often strikes unexpectedly with no warning. People don't choose to be hungry. We should all consider this before making judgements or stereotypes of our friends and neighbors.

Are food restrictions the only way to improve health?

Last week at the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting, one of our partners - a retired doctor and a fierce advocate for food insecurity screening in primary care settings - and I got into a conversation about improving the health of people with low-incomes by restricting FoodShare benefits. In the lunch line, naturally...