NEW: If you have anything you would like to include in the weekly newsletter, or if you would like to add someone to the distribution list, please email Lauren Vance, Communications Manager, at Lauren.Vance@NetworktoEndHunger.org.

Thank you!

We are proud to welcome Feeding India’s Founder, Ankit Kawatra, and Co-founder, Srishti Jain, as keynote speakers at the 2019 Sunshine Summit to End Hunger in just a few weeks!

Ankit Kawatra, who started Feeding India, a not-for-profit organization after quitting his corporate job in 2014, is helping end hunger and poverty in India in a unique way. Through over 8,000 volunteers across 60 cities, Feeding India collects excess 'unused' food from parties, restaurants and social events and donates it to the needy. Since then, Feeding India has served over 25 million meals through their many missions such as food recovery efforts, education, youth empowerment, nutrition, environmental preservation, as well as peace and love. Ankit is one of the 17 young world leaders selected by the United Nations as part of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development where he has a three-fold goal: Zero Poverty. Zero Hunger. Better Education.

Co-founder Srishti Jain, who holds a bachelor's degree in business studies from Delhi University, joined his mission and helped grow the team from two people to the national movement it is now. Together, they are changing the way India deals with wasted food.

Our opening session keynote presentation will also include Jeremy Everett, Executive Director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, who will provide a state level perspective of food insecurity. Later in the day, April Kelly-Drummond, Director of DE&I of Denny’s Restaurant Group, will offer her perspective of how a national corporation is addressing hunger.  Day 2 will feature Craig Gundersen, Professor and Director of Undergrad Studies at the University of Illinois, who will share his research and program developments addressing food insecurity.

Check out all of our speakers and the agenda at www.SummittoEndHunger.com. Make sure to get registered now!

We are excited to welcome two new team members to Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger. Lauren Vance is joining us as our new Communications Manager and Chloe Kidd is our new AmeriCorps VISTA Project Coordinator. Check out their bios below.

It's the fourth official year of the Out of Our Bounty Campaign that continues to grow and assist farm workers with food during the off-season (and nursery workers closer to Apopka). Last year we were able to assemble and deliver over 275 food kits of 30 lbs each to workers in Immokalee, Avon Park/Lake Placid area and Apopka/Zellwood.  If we can get enough donations of money and food this year, we would also like to assist in the Belle Glade area. To do this, we need your help! Please consider donating or purchasing items to complete a kit. Information for making a financial gift or donating items to complete a kit are pictured right.

If anyone would like to assist in serving or handing out food bags, the Immokalee luncheon and food distribution event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Amigos Center in Immokalee, FL. The Avon Park distribution will be the first weekend in November, and food distribution for Apopka/Zellwood will be Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week TBD. Thank you in advance for your help!

Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Linda Leonard-Woods, FWAF Advisory Board, at 314-239-3208.

Upcoming urban food events - no cost and open to the public:

• Urban Food Sovereignty* Summit at USF in Tampa -Tuesday Oct. 22- 5:30pm-8pm-  Traditions Hall, Gibbons Alumni Center (4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa 33620)

*Urban food sovereignty: the right and opportunity of persons in urban ecosystems to define their own food and agriculture policies and practices, and to produce healthy and culturally appropriate food through their own means using ecologically sound and sustainable methods, independent of industrial food systems.

 

For more information on these dynamic learning and sharing events, contact Dell deChant at dechant@usf.edu. 

(The New York Times, September 23, 2019) More than 75,000 comments (70 from mayors and 17 from governors) were submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in opposition to the proposed rule to limit SNAP eligibility. USDA’s own analysis estimated that more than 3 million SNAP recipients would lose benefits under the rule, and 500,000 children would lose access to free school meals. The Trump administration is trying to “do through rule-making what Congress had already said no to,” said Ellen Vollinger of FRAC. “We don’t think that they have a very good basis to be doing this given the legislative history,” Vollinger added. Click here to read the full story.