Articles in the Basic Needs Category
Below is a guest post from students at Redmond High School, where a group of students has taken the initiative to make sure no one at their school goes hungry. They are using Hunger Action Week as a chance to raise awareness about hunger and to host a food drive. Redmond one of the five communities where a growing networking group called Nourishing Networks has begun bringing caring people together to take ownership of issues. starting with hunger, and work together to fill in…
Last Thursday’s Hunger Action Forum was the perfect precursor to this week being Hunger Action Week. One thing was clear from all of the large- and small-group sessions: It’s not just United Way of King County who’s talking about shining a light on hunger in our community.
Forum-goers talked about everything hunger: obesity and widespread access to nutritious food, summer meals for kids on subsidized school meal programs, cooking classes, community gardens, food delivery for seniors and…
I figured I’d start out this post with a old adage I’ve heard more than a few times in the past week:
“A hungry man is an angry man”
Ellen Gustafson started off her presentation at the Hunger Action Forum with this quote, and in her work with a military defense think tank, she found it to be true – areas where there is very low food security are the same areas of the world that are the most violent and…
As you may have heard, March 19th-24th is Hunger Action Week - a week devoted to raising awareness and taking action to end hunger in King County. Ending hunger is a huge undertaking, and requires a community-wide effort. There are a number of ways to support this effort, from taking the Hunger Challenge, to hosting a dinner party to raise awareness of hunger among your friends and family. One of the most impactful ways you can help is by volunteering your time…
As you may have heard, March 19th-24th is Hunger Action Week - a week devoted to raising awareness and taking action to end hunger in King County. Ending hunger is a huge undertaking, and requires a community-wide effort. There are a number of ways to support this effort, from taking the Hunger Challenge, to hosting a dinner party to raise awareness of hunger among your friends and family. One of the most impactful ways you can help is by volunteering your time to support local nonprofits…
The Hunger-Obesity Paradox
It is hard for many to believe that there is a hunger problem in America when the same population that is hungry is also often excessively overweight. This paradox forces us to look at hunger in a different way: not starving, but food insecure. This means that nearly 50 million people in America have at some point been unsure where their next meal is coming from, don’t have enough money to buy the basics and pay rent and utilities, or have trouble…
Why focus on hunger?
As we go through our daily routines, living, working, and playing in a community as beautiful and abundant as Seattle and King County, it’s hard to think that anyone here, or in our great country, can possibly be going hungry – but it’s true. Often an invisible problem, hunger and food insecurity affects 1 in 6 Americans – that’s 49 million people (Source). Right here in King County 13% of our population is food insecure and 1 in 5…
You should sign up for Hunger Action Week because…
10. You can get a really cool orange button to spice up any outfit! This is a no-brainer. Sign up for HungerAction Week, and then email mwinkler@uwkc.org with your button request.
9. “Sesame Street” is talking about it! The show introduced “Lily” in a recent special—a 7-year-old Muppet who is food-insecure and shows how community gardens and the kindness of neighbors can help.
8. We are all excited about “The Hunger Games” movie…
The Seattle-King County Asset Building Collaborative will be having their annual Financial Fitness day on March 31st. They have joined with over 40 community partners to be able to bring community members FREE financial services. These services include everything from one-on-one help filling out a tax return, printing and analyzing free credit reports, opening bank accounts, creating a household budget, working with a financial planner, applying for public benefits (food, utilities, child care, health insurance, social security), learning how to start a business, shredding…
Each March, United Way of King County holds our annual Spirit of Caring Celebration which honors and celebrates the best of the best in our community. One of the most coveted Spirit of Caring awards, “Volunteer of the Year” is typically reserved for an individual volunteer who has shown commitment to the mission and priorities of United Way that exceeds expectations and whose work has had a significant impact on advancing United Way’s mission. Well, this year’s Volunteer of the Year was a bit different…in…
