2008 Woodie Awards
Hunger 101 Highlights Local Issue
Danielle Hoo
Issue date: 3/28/07 Section: News
It is a common misconception that hunger is more of a global than a local issue, but roughly 100,000 people in Connecticut suffer from food insecurity. Of these 100,000 people, 40,000 are children.
Tuesday night ConnPIRG (Public Interest Research Group) held a Hunger 101 workshop in the Student Union to raise hunger awareness. The leaders of the workshop were employees from Foodshare, a regional food bank that distributes to Hartford and Tolland Counties. Foodshare distributes 11 tons of food to 40 locations (including daycares, food pantries and soup kitchens) on a daily basis. Foodshare operates with the assistance of about 1,800 volunteers.
The Hunger 101 workshop is presented locally to different schools and universities, faith communities and companies. There are several different versions of the workshop, each altered to cater to their respective audience. Hunger 101's aim is to find a way to explain to middle class citizens how people fall into poverty and into situations with low food security.
"Hunger is more prevalent in Connecticut than students think or want to think and it's really important to understand how big of a problem it really is," said Josh Shulman, a 2nd-semester political science major. Shulman is an intern for ConnPIRG and was responsible for arranging the Hunger 101 workshop. "It [hunger] is not something that has to continue."
The workshop included an eight-minute video, presented by Shoprite, entitled "Hunger Next Door." The video interviewed various impoverished families who have fallen on hard times. Fires, unemployment and unpaid child support were among reasons for the documented families' poverty. Although the families endured hardship, they remained surprisingly optimistic about the future. One man who was struggling to feed his family explained that "there's always tomorrow." According to the video, the USDA estimates that in the United States, 10.5 million adults and 12 million children suffer from food insecurity.
Tuesday night ConnPIRG (Public Interest Research Group) held a Hunger 101 workshop in the Student Union to raise hunger awareness. The leaders of the workshop were employees from Foodshare, a regional food bank that distributes to Hartford and Tolland Counties. Foodshare distributes 11 tons of food to 40 locations (including daycares, food pantries and soup kitchens) on a daily basis. Foodshare operates with the assistance of about 1,800 volunteers.
The Hunger 101 workshop is presented locally to different schools and universities, faith communities and companies. There are several different versions of the workshop, each altered to cater to their respective audience. Hunger 101's aim is to find a way to explain to middle class citizens how people fall into poverty and into situations with low food security.
"Hunger is more prevalent in Connecticut than students think or want to think and it's really important to understand how big of a problem it really is," said Josh Shulman, a 2nd-semester political science major. Shulman is an intern for ConnPIRG and was responsible for arranging the Hunger 101 workshop. "It [hunger] is not something that has to continue."
The workshop included an eight-minute video, presented by Shoprite, entitled "Hunger Next Door." The video interviewed various impoverished families who have fallen on hard times. Fires, unemployment and unpaid child support were among reasons for the documented families' poverty. Although the families endured hardship, they remained surprisingly optimistic about the future. One man who was struggling to feed his family explained that "there's always tomorrow." According to the video, the USDA estimates that in the United States, 10.5 million adults and 12 million children suffer from food insecurity.
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Larry Wood
posted 3/28/07 @ 3:43 PM EST
Hunger in the United States is a horrible thing. We have not addrerssed this as a people and it needs a lot of attention. Hunger is probably our National Disgrace. (Continued…)
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