So this is what it's like to try and get food (stamps)

Remember that trip I took to Texas back in January?

The one where I learned about the ConAgra Foods Foundation's work with the Share our Strength organization and specifically, with the Cooking Matters program?

Remember how I got to see the North Texas Food Bank warehouse?

Remember how I sat in on a few Cooking Matters classes that teach not only basic nutrition, but also ways to shop and cook healthy on a budget?

Well all of that was great. But there was an experience I had, and video taped, back in January that shows exactly WHY ConAgra Foods Foundation's support of Cooking Matters is so important.

FRUSTRATION

That is the best word I can find to describe how it must feel to try and feed a family when you do not have the money to do so. Sure, there are 'social services' available - but it's not easy to obtain them.

And to give us an idea, the Cooking Matters bootcamp folks made us go through a simulation, if you will.

This was my experience:

What would you have done?

Disclosure: ConAgra and Share our Strength paid for my trip to Texas and I will receive a stipend for my work helping to tell the story and promote Cooking Matters. As always, all opinions and experiences are my own and this post was neither reviewed nor approved prior to posting.

Hunger Fear Anger Hope

Last week I was invited to Dallas, Texas by the ConAgra Food Foundation and Share Our Strength for the purpose of learning more about hunger and what they are doing to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.

I was shocked.

I was scared.

I was saddened.

But I left with a sense of hope, and of purpose.

I hope over the next few months to share what I have learned with you.

I hope it angers you.

I hope it scares you.

I hope it inspires you, as it did me.

Two Days in Texas Opened my Eyes Forever

In 2008 the North Texas Food Bank had the goal to double their business. As the director Jan Pruitt said, "Do you know any other business in 2008 that had a goal of  doubling?" Their mission is to 'fill the gap' between the amount of food families are getting versus what they need. The mission was 50 million meals by 2011.

Who are those 50 million?

The New Face of Hunger

We saw a video with a single dad who was working in his father's saddle shop. He was highly educated with a degree in finance, maybe even his masters. But as with many others, the economy and mortgage industry took a turn for the worse and took his financial security with it.

He has a job.

He grows his own vegetables.

He gets help monthly from a food pantry stocked by the North Texas Food Bank.

Photo courtesy of No Kid Hungry & Share Our Strength

We learned about new multi-generational families. Grandparents are raising grandkids. Sometimes this means the entire family has moved in due to economic stress. Sometimes the middle generation simply doesn't exist.

Hunger Scares Me

Hunger can happen to anyone. These days all it takes is one small shift to start the downward spiral. All of us are at risk. What if my husband hurt himself? How long would short term disability last? Then what?

The panic set it.

And then I got angry.

Hunger Angers Me

Jan Pruitt, the director of the North Texas Food Bank explained, "It's not that the United States doesn't have enough food. We have enough food."

So why isn't all of this food getting to where it's needed?

Why are only 38% of the eligible people getting food stamps and what is happening to the money for the remaining 62%? Is it just sitting there?

Why are so many kids hungry in the United States in the year 2010?

HOPE

Organizations like Share Our Strength and the companies like ConAgra that support them offer hope. They have programs that are working. Cooking Matters is the program we focused on and I can't wait to share everything I learned with you.

Over the next few months I am going to see first-hand some of the local food pantry customers and take a Cooking Matters class. I know in my own hometown I've read articles about the surge in food pantry customers who are new, have never had to ask for help, and more shocking...they have jobs. Often white-collar jobs.

Do you know what is going on in your town?

Important Links

North Texas Food Bank website and Twitter @ntfb

ConAgra Food's Foundation website and ConAgra on Twitter

Share our Strength's No Kid Hungry website , on Facebook, and @ShareStrength on Twitter

Cooking Matters website and @CookingMatters on Twitter

Janine

Disclosure: ConAgra and Share our Strength paid for my trip to Texas and I will receive a stipend for my work helping to tell the story and promote Cooking Matters. As always, all opinions and experiences are my own and this post was neither reviewed nor approved prior to posting.

If you ever need someone to fast with you, don't call me

Yesterday I had to fast for an insurance thing.

I had to not eat anything for 8-12 hours. I had to abstain from MY 4 food groups: coffee, chocolate, cheese and crackers... among other things.

I could only have water.

Image via Wikipedia

I was miserable.

I was cranky, tired, distracted, and unable to really focus.

You would have thought I hadn't eaten in days the way I was acting!

Which got me thinking...what DOES it feel like to not eat for days?

I decided I did not want to find out.

And I wanted to do a little something for people who do know what it's like.

Give to your local food bank this holiday season and all year long.

So needy parents and kids don't have to fast.

Janine