Fall and Winter 2008

On the Front Line
Fall/Winter 2008
Walk Celebration 2008
Campbell’s Soup Headquarters in Camden, NJ
was the place to be on Wednesday, July 2nd
when Walk beneficiary agencies dared to cross
the bridge from Philadelphia to receive their
hard-earned walk checks presented by NBC10
news anchor, Aditi Roy.
Once again Delilah Winder of Bluezette and
Delilah’s Southern Cuisine reigned over the
annual Soup Kitchen Cook-off. We all had the
chance to try some of the best food around—
everything from spicy corn and pea salad to beef
roast to Southern sweet potato jacks to black and
white cake!
Thank you to Amanda Tolino and all of the other
wonderful people from Campbell’s who gave us
a beautifully decorated space where we could
gather together and celebrate the accomplishments of Walk 2008!
Harriet Sanders, Delilah Winder, and Esther McCall
2008 Walk Award Winners
Beneficiary Teams with the Most Walkers
1st place: Brotherhood Mission Ministries (139 walkers)
2nd place: Bethel Holy Temple/Mt. Olive/North
Philadelphia Visions (37 walkers)
3rd place: Resurrection Baptist Church (30 walkers)
Teams that Raised the Most in Donations
1st place: Cathedral Kitchen ($25,195.60)
2nd place: Brotherhood Mission Ministries ($12,035)
3rd place: Food Bank of South Jersey ($8,186)
New Teams That Raised the Most in Donations
1st place: Berean Presbyterian ($1,221)
2nd place: St. Luke’s Food Cupboard ($1,193)
3rd place: New Birth Fellowship Tabernacle ($981)
Teams That Had the Greatest Percentage Increase
of Dollars Compared to 2007
NBC10 anchor Aditi Roy congratulates Berean
Presbyterian and St. Luke’s on their awards
1st place: Helping Hands for the Hungry
2nd place: Resurrection Baptist Church
3rd place: Food Bank of South Jersey
Fall/Winter 2008, On the Front Line
2901 W. Hunting Park Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19129
phone: 215-430-0555 web: www.hungercoalition.org and www.hungerwalk.org
On the Front Line
Page 2
First Tuesday Highlights
July
See the cover story of this newsletter about the Walk Celebration to find out what
happened at the July First Tuesday.
August
Everyone came up with great topics for the upcoming year at this meeting! You can see
the results on the enclosed flyer with the 2008-2009 First Tuesday calendar. If you are
interested in attending and would like to be added to the monthly First Tuesday reminder
call list, please call Derek at 215-668-0028.
September
At the September First Tuesday, Schaunel Steinnagle from Presbytery of Philadelphia gave
us information about breastfeeding resources for pregnant clients. She shared her own
personal experiences and insights about breastfeeding and spoke about ways that food
cupboard and soup kitchen coordinators could encourage expectant moms to breastfeed their
infants. Schaunel highlighted that, in addition to being the healthiest food for babies, breast
milk is a convenient, clean and economical food as well. She provided a handout with
programs that pregnant clients can call to get support and supplies, like free or low-cost
breast pumps. There are some (very few!) times when breastfeeding is not recommended for
a baby, usually in cases when a mother is taking certain medications or abusing certain
drugs. Remind your clients to speak with their doctor about what breastfeeding options are
right for them.
If you missed this First Tuesday, but would still like the handout to share with your clients,
please call Tanya at the Coalition at 215-430-0555.
We also had a chance to meet the members of the
Coalition’s Advocacy Committee at the September First
Tuesday. The members include Annette Hall, Harriet
Sanders, Ernest Saxton, Yvette Palmer, Pamela Jones,
and Erskine Dale. Since the meeting Dottie Sachs,
Montreze Threats and Loretta Lewis have joined. The
Advocacy Committee will meet for one hour each
month at the Coalition’s offices.
If you are interested in visiting your senators and local
congress people to tell them about the struggles of your
soup kitchen/food cupboard and clients, then please call
Derek at 215-668-0028 to find out when our next meeting is and then join us! (See Derek’s
Cupboard Corner on page 3 for more information about the Advocacy Committee. )
On the Front Line
Page 3
A Very Important
Call:
Announcement of
2008 Survey of
Philadelphia Food
Cupboards and Soup
Kitchens
Your community feeding
program may be one of the lucky
agencies to be contacted by the
Coalition to take part in this
annual survey.
The information we gather will
be used to provide a picture of
hunger in Philadelphia for the
2008 US Conference of Mayors’
Status Report on Hunger and
Homelessness and to improve the
programs the Coalition
offers its members.
We look forward to speaking
with you!
Derek’s Cupboard Corner:
HEAR YE! HEAR YE!
HEAR ME!
Have you been talking but no one wants to listen? Have
you been making phone calls, writing letters and still
have not heard from your state and local city
representatives? Well guess what, help is on the way.
There is strength in numbers.
Do you operate a feeding program in your community
and receive food from SHARE, Philabundance or other
state and city programs? Are you interested in building
better, stronger working relationships to help solve some
of your internal problems at your food cupboard or soup
kitchen?
Well, I have some good news for you, help is on the
way! We have a new Anti-Hunger Advocacy Committee
and so far we have eleven food cupboards and soup
kitchens experts that will help speak for you. We meet
once a month to discuss ways to reach out to our state
and city representatives who have a voice in Harrisburg.
We will look for new ways to stock our shelves with
healthy nutritional foods to get the type of equipment
needed to store our food. We will also discuss and find
solutions to the all of the challenges we have in running
our feeding programs.
If you want to help fight for change then let’s join our
voices together to be heard. We won’t ask for much of
your time, but we do need your thoughts and ideas.
Meetings will only last for one hour. They may not hear
me, they may not hear you, but together they will hear us
all loud and clear. If you need an extra voice to help with
your struggles, than join in with us. Call me or see me at
our next First Tuesday meeting on October 7th to get
involved.
Derek Felton
Community Organizing Coordinator
Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
(215) 668-0028
[email protected]
On the Front Line
Page 4
Keep Up With Food Stamps:
New Food Stamp
Income Limits
October is fast approaching and that
means it’s time for the Food Stamp
Program income guidelines to go up
again! In order to qualify for food stamps,
an individual or family must be at or
below 130% of the federal poverty line.
Every October, the federal government
adjusts the poverty line based on inflation.
With the cost of food on the rise, these
annual adjustments ensure that individuals
and families can afford nutritious foods to
keep them strong and healthy.
These new guidelines go into effect on
October 1, 2008. If you currently
conduct food stamp outreach or
screenings and would like outreach
materials with the updated income
guidelines, please contact Rachel at
215-430-0555.
Food Stamp Income Limits
Household
Size
Income
(before
Taxes)
Maximum
Monthly
Benefit
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
$1127
$1517
$1907
$2297
$2687
$3077
$3467
$3857
+$390
$162
$298
$426
$542
$643
$772
$853
$975
+$122
Each
additional
member
More changes to the Pennsylvania Food Stamp
Program will take place on October 1st as a result of
the recently passed Farm Bill. Please see the World
Food Day Food Stamp Forum flyer inserted in this
newsletter to see how you can find out more about this
changes that will help more people pay for their
groceries.
Attention After-School Program Directors:
Your program may be able to receive meals for
your students, delivered directly to your door at no
cost. You can choose between snack, cold supper,
or hot supper.
If you can answer “yes” to the following questions,
please call Nutritional Development Services at
215-895-3470, option 4 to get more information
about this important program that helps to keep
kids healthy.
1. Do you offer after-school enrichment activities
to at least 25 children a day at least 3 days a week?
2. Does your program have non-profit status?
3. Do you have access to refrigeration for 3 days
worth of food?
4. Are the children in your program hungry afterschool?
Call Today!
On the Front Line
Page 5
Community Stars: Mt. Olive Holy Temple
Bishop Thomas Martin and his wife,
Carolyn, took over running the feeding
program at Mt. Olive Holy Temple seven
years ago. Before that, they helped with the
program over at Bethel Holy Temple. When
asked what inspires them to continue doing
this work, Bishop Thomas quickly replied,
“It’s part of the mission—Feed the hungry.”
Mt. Olive, located at 1469 N. Broad Street,
offers both a weekly meal and food bag
give-a-ways. Each Tuesday about 130 guests
enjoy a hot meal in a place that guests say
nourishes both the body and the soul.
While claiming participation for nine years
of the Walk Against Hunger is quite an
accomplishment, the Mt. Olive Holy Temple
group added another benchmark last year:
their team, who walks with Bethel Holy
Temple, won 2nd place for most walkers!
Much of the money raised through the Walk
is used to buy paper goods—a high expense
for the soup kitchen, and for their food bags.
While the economy struggles, it becomes
harder to fill the 72 food bags Mt. Olive
donates on a first come, first served basis
each week. Without this help, the church and
the Martins would be forced to pay for more
out of their own pockets.
While more people can always help, Mt.
Olive is lucky to have a strong volunteer
base. Mrs. Martin’s only wish might be for
more of a male presence among the
volunteers since so many of their guests are
men. All of the current volunteers are
members of the church. Many guests also
help with clean up once they are finished
eating. Mt. Olive has many guests who return
each week for the pleasant atmosphere and
delicious food. They also consistently see
new guests each week. The Martins said the
number of new guests has increased recently
as other feeding programs have been forced
to close.
Carolyn and Bishop Thomas Martin
Mavin, a guest for the past five years, spoke vividly
about her experience at Mt. Olive. She comes just
about every Tuesday and tries to come on most
Sundays as well. She says that Mt. Olive is a
positive place in her life, something that she can
look forward to. At Mt. Olive, Mavin can eat a meal
and talk with others because, as she says, “You can’t
live alone in this world.” Mavin also spoke highly
of the food bags which contain basics along with
coveted items like canned goods with meat. She tells
everyone about the program at Mt. Olive. A similar
talk from someone else in the past was what first
motivated her to come and her only regret was that
she hadn’t come sooner.
During a recent visit in mid-August, I saw guests
dining on a tasty meal of potatoes, rice and gravy,
mixed vegetables, seafood salad, potato salad, soda,
juice, crackers, and cake. The meals are never the
same twice so don’t expect to see that menu again,
but you can expect to see something just as delicious
when you visit Mt. Olive Holy Temple!
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
US POSTAGE PAID
BALA CYNWYD, PA
PERMIT NO. 649
On The Front Line
Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
c/o SHARE Food, Inc.
2901 W. Hunting Park Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19129
Call Tanya at 215-430-0555 for more information about any
of these upcoming events.
*All First Tuesdays take place at 111 S. 38th Street at
Nutritional Development Services (at the corner of 38th and
Sansom Streets; across from the 7-11.) All are welcome!
►December 2, 2008: First Tuesday, 12-1:15pm*
(Topic: Resources to Help Your Clients Find and Prepare for
Work)
►November 4, 2008: First Tuesday, 12-1:15pm* (Topic:
Food Safety & How To Prepare a “Safe” Turkey)
►October 16, 2008: World Food Day, Food Stamp
Forum—- “Bigger Benefits, Expanded Eligibility”, 9-12:30
at the United Way Building on the Ben Franklin Parkway
►October 9, 2008: A Community Food Resource Fair—”Heat or Eat? Let’s Do Both!”—presented by the
Delancey Community Food Coalition, 10am-1pm at the
Fresh Grocer at 56th and Market Streets
►October 7, 2008: First Tuesday, 12-1:15pm* (Topic:
Resources to Help Your Clients Be More Self-Sufficient)
Mark Your Calendars!