Rhode Island Food Policy Council
Website
Updated report provides data on food in public health, the economy, environmental and community contexts.
Author: tmdgroup@yahoo.com
Rhode Island Food System Snapshots
Rhode Island Food Policy Council
Website
The Fact Sheets are intended to give Rhode Islanders a better sense of the current impact the food system has on individual communities, and a better understanding of the network of businesses, agencies, organizations and institutions that make up our local food system. A food system encompasses all of the processes involved in feeding people: it includes the production, harvesting, and processing of food; its distribution and marketing; its consumption (whether at home, in schools and institutions, or in restaurants); and ultimately, the recycling or disposal of food waste. The fact sheets present a dynamic “snapshot” of the local food system, and we hope they will stimulate discussion about growing the local food system and using data to track and measure progress. This is a first attempt to pull together data from a range of sources, however, so we invite corrections or additional information that will help us more accurately represent Rhode Island’s local food system.
A Place at the Table
Rhode Island Community Food Bank Summer Newsletter More
United State Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20250 Information Hotline: (202) 720-2791
Services related to hunger relief include the National Hunger Clearinghouse and Hotline that includes summer meal site locations and database of organizations providing food assistance.
The Clearinghouse provides a database of non-governmental, grassroots organizations that provide food assistance. These organizations enter their information into the Clearinghouse database, which is available to the public. The database is searchable and downloadable if you click on Find Meals. The organizations are also added to an email list that receives monthly newsletters on nutrition news and education.
It also provides the USDA National Hunger Hotline, which operates from 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM Eastern Time. If you need food assistance, call 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE to speak with a representative who will find food resources near your location. The USDA National Hunger Clearinghouse is currently operated by Hunger Free America.
National Hunger Hotline
Hunger Free America 50 Broad Street, Suite 1103 New York, NY 10004 (212) 825-0028
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Aims to put those in search of food in touch with private and government resources that can help provide it. The coast-to-coast initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, operates Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at (866) 348-6479 or (877) 842-6273.
According to the U.S.D.A. Hunger Clearinghouse, about one in eight Rhode Islanders and one in five Rhode Island children live in households that can’t always provide food.
The hotline staff puts callers in touch with emergency food providers in their community, government assistance, nutritional assistance programs, and other programs focused on promoting self-sufficiency, according to a press release from the clearinghouse. Such services include providing information about meal sites where children 18 years old and younger can get free meals through the U.S.D.A’s summer food program.
Hunger Volunteer.org
Hunger Free America 50 Broad Street, Suite 1103 New York, NY 10004 (212) 825-0028
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Forty-eight million Americans – including 15 million American children – struggle against hunger. America has the power to make itself entirely hunger free. But seasonal and charitable work, like packing food pantry bags or volunteering at soup kitchens alone can’t end hunger. Higher impact volunteer work, like volunteering professional skills at an anti-hunger organization or advocating for a stronger safety net or higher wages can make a bigger difference in the fight to end hunger. Watch the video below to see how you can help make a hunger free America a reality.
HungerVolunteer.org can help you get started finding high impact volunteer opportunities in your community. If you need more assistance, emailHelp@HungerVolunteer.org to learn more about our Ending Hunger Through Citizen Service program.
Hunger Free America
50 Broad Street, Suite 1103 New York, NY 10004 (212) 825-0028
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Formerly the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Hunger Free America has gone national.
The organization runs an AmeriCorps VISTA Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps Program that engages 60 Americans in full-time this year (and will engage close to 100 next year), in year-round community service in 29 states from coast-to-coast, who collectively aid tens of thousands of families. They launched www.HungerVolunteer.org to make it easier for people to volunteer across America for high-impact anti-hunger projects. This portal is a state-of-the-art tool to enable Americans anywhere to be more effective when they volunteer.
The organization also manages the National Hunger Clearinghouse and National Hunger Hotline on behalf of USDA. Anyone in the U.S. can call 1-866-3-Hungry to learn where they can access government and private food resources in their local community. Last year the hotline enabled more than 10,000 households, calling from all 50 states, to locate food.
Food Recovery Network
Food Waste Reduction Alliance
1350 Eye (I) Street NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20005
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What if three major industries could come together to reduce the amount of waste being sent to America’s landfills? At the same time, what if more food could be donated to help feed hungry families? These are the goals of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA), an initiative of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (representing food and beverage companies), the Food Marketing Institute (representing food retailers), and the National Restaurant Association (representing the foodservice industry). Established in 2011, the FWRA has already engaged more than 30 leading companies and stakeholder partners, including Feeding America and Waste Management, Inc. With a record one in six Americans receiving food assistance and landfills that are increasingly over-burdened, the need to tackle the challenges of food waste has never been more urgent.
Refed
WebsiteA collaboration of over thirty business, nonprofit, foundation and government leaders committed to reducing United States food waste in the United States. ReFED seeks to unlock new philanthropic and investment capital, along with technology, business and policy innovation, to achieve this goal, which will catalyze tens of thousands of new jobs, recover billions of meals annually for the hungry, and reduce national water use and greenhouse gas emissions. ReFED was formed in early 2015 to create a Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste, the first ever national economic study and action plan driven by a multistakeholder group committed to tackling food waste at scale.