Hunger/Homelessness

In the March 2007 issue, freelance writer David McKenna's cover story, "Social Engagement," outlined how Mercy Corps took on two new projects to enhance its mission, encourage advocates in its campaign against world hunger and poverty, and in time, produce a new crop of deeply involved donors.

In the February 2007 issue, then-FS Managing Editor Abny Santicola wrote about an LW Robbins direct-mail piece for the Vermont Foodbank that used a mini notecard to garner outstanding results, appropriately titled, "The Little Mailing That Did."

Dunkin' Donuts is selling travel cups for $3.99, with $1 from each sale donated and distributed among four regional food banks. As an added incentive, the cup gets customers 99-cent refills until Dec. 31. Talk about a great incentive for a great cause!

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the award of nearly $100 million in grants that will help approximately 42,000 homeless and at-risk veterans and their families. The grants are going to 151 community agencies in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Leaving the Queen Elizabeth Theatre two years ago, a wealthy Vancouver couple saw a youth panhandling and decided they had to do something to help the homeless in the city.

On Friday, the city confirmed the anonymous couple had donated $30 million to pay for the operation of a supportive-housing project at Taylor Manor, a complex built by the city in 1915 to provide housing for low-income seniors. It has been closed since 2000.

North Texas Food Bank's Close the Gap fundraising campaign not only brought residents closer to their nutritional needs, but it also encouraged more symbiotic relationships among staff, volunteers and donors.

Koh's Department Stores announced an $800,000 donation to Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee to ensure that the emergency need for food is met now. The donation will help provide appropriate food supplies throughout the year for the approximately 35,000 people that rely on food pantries and soup kitchens in the area each month.

The New Jersey state government is providing $1,363,600 for N.J.’s six food banks to purchase food to hand out during the holiday season, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno announced Tuesday. The State Food Purchase Program aid provides $904,331 for Community FoodBank of New Jersey, $178,282 for Food Bank of South Jersey, $141,667 for the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, $59,640 for Mercer Street Friends, $50,786 for Southern Regional Food Distribution Center, and $28,891 for NORWESCAP.

Cargill and World Food Program USA (WFP USA), together with support from the American public, are joining together to bring more than 22 million pounds of rice — enough to feed nearly one million people for one month — to people who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition in the Horn of Africa.

The shipment of rice will go to support the United Nations World Food Program’s efforts in northeastern Kenya.

ACTION Against Hunger, a nonprofit group that fights malnutrition, is running a public service ad campaign that uses nontraditional, abstract imagery, rather than photos of starving children, to gain support.

Instead of employing photographs of starving children, the ads take a different tack. One shows a line of seven simple paper dolls; the doll in the middle is a stick figure compared with the other six. Copy in this ad says, “3.5 million children die each year from acute malnutrition. Take action. Save a child. ActionAgainstHunger.org.”