Coming Together to Bear Witness to the Reality of Hunger in Arkansas
Posted by Katherine Van Steenburgh on Friday, July 22, 2011
On Tuesday, several Share Our Strength staff members were in Little Rock, Arkansas leading a Hinges of Hope tour sponsored by Tyson Foods, Inc. This event engaged Walmart, Governor Mike Beebe, The First Lady of Arkansas, Arby’s, and state/federal legislators and was a unique opportunity to bear witness to the reality of hunger in Arkansas and discuss how this group of leaders can help feed more kids in Arkansas.
The state of Arkansas has the highest percentage of kids who are food insecure, so the work of the NKH campaign there is critical. Tuesday was a very powerful day that included a breakfast briefing with Governor Beebe, lunch at a summer meals site, and a press event at the close of the day. The issues of SNAP outreach, increasing participation in summer meals, transportation barriers were all discussed by this group of leaders and it was clear that they are dedicated to supporting solutions. Next week, we will be sharing more about this event and the important issues that were raised.
One significant part of the day for me was hearing from Barbara Mickles who runs one of the summer lunch programs that we visited. Barbara came straight from the kitchen where she was preparing lunches and shared with our group why she was committed to providing lunch in the summer to the kids in her area. She shared that often kids line up outside the doors of the site before lunch begins because they are starving and are ready to eat. Many of the children she serves only have that one meal a day, so she is committed to making sure her site is successful and reaches more kids next year. The NKH campaign was able to give her a grant this year for transportation so that she could bring more kids to the site each day.
Read more about this event.
Share Our Strength’s Hinges of Hope™ is a series of experiential learning tours that introduce public and private leaders to community organizations addressing hunger and poverty in their neighborhoods. Through Hinges of Hope, Share Our Strength® promotes understanding and inspires action by opening the eyes, hearts and minds of participants to the challenges facing community leaders as they work to end childhood hunger.
July 22, 2011 | 2 comment(s) | Tags: arkansas, hinges of hope, no kid hungry
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2 reader comments so far.
Thank you Share Our Strength for raising our awareness of the need and the obstacles to ending childhood hunger. Thank you for telling us about people who really are making a difference.
Posted by Margaret Campbell on July 26, 2011
i am very proud i brought share our strength to arkansas , i started the bake sale to arkansas a few yrs ago, im so very proud of the programs i have watched implemented in the state , i will continue my bake sales in oct hope everyone here will come buy the bake goods , i also have combined my annual haunted house to the bake sale and all proceeds go to this cause thank you arkansians for all the support
Posted by altamay holder on August 10, 2011
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