CA P I TA L A R E A FO O D BA N K O F T E X A S

OUR MISSION: TO NOURISH HUNGRY PEOPLE AND LEAD THE COMMUNITY IN ENDING HUNGER.

Kids Cafe: Nourish, Play, Support p2 . In With the New p3 . Thank You and Upcoming Events p4 & 5

“Hunger Is UNacceptable” Website Makes You a Powerful Advocate for Change. p6 . Hunger is 365 Days a Year.

You and Your Family Can Help. p7 . Message from the President & CEO p8

February - April 2011

feedback

Thank You!“

The Food Bank receives a $200,000 grant from the Dell Foundation.

The Dell Foundation, along with the entire Dell team, has embraced and rallied around the issue of hunger since its inception in 1995,” said Trisa Thompson, vice president of Dell Corporate Responsibility and chair of the Dell Foundation. “Our hope is for CAFB to reach deeper into the community and help every local family in need.

The Town Lake Chapter of the Links hosted a Kids Cafe kick-off party for the students at Norman Elementary School and presented the Food Bank with a check for $10,000.

It’s just so awesome, that we feel we need to continue this program and lay the seeds and foundation so the kids can be successful. Geraldine Tucker, President of the Town Lake Chapter of The Links, Inc.

”“ ”

Kids Cafe: Nourish, Play, SupportMany families rely on the free and reduced price lunch program to provide their children with nourishment during the school day, but find it difficult to provide an evening meal. Kids Cafe is a Feeding America program sponsored locally by the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas providing free, nutritious evening meals to low-income children, in a safe environment.

The Capital Area Food Bank operates 34 Kids Cafes throughout our service area. These programs are held in schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, and community centers, and under qualified adult supervision. In the 2009-2010 school year, Kids Cafe provided more than 31,000 meals to 2,950 children each month.

Every meal contains a healthy balance of protein, grains, fruits, vegetables and dairy in accordance with the USDA School Lunch Program standards. In addition to nourishing hungry bodies, Kids Cafe also works to nourish the minds of the children it serves through enrichment activities at each site.

The mission of the Capital Area Food Bank is to nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger. While the meals nourish children, Kids Cafe also seeks to end hunger by providing children with every opportunity to learn and grow without the distraction of hunger. By nourishing both bodies and minds, Kids Cafe helps children succeed and breaks the cycle of hunger.

Join the Food Bank community. Sign up at austinfoodbank.org to keep abreast of all our news, events, client stories, volunteer opportunities, and how we work to affect public policy impacting the hungry. Encourage your friends, family and colleagues to get involved and join the fight to end hunger in our community.

In With the New Learn how you can help at austinfoodbank.org

By Wendy Heiges, Senior Director, Advocacy and Public Policy

Parents everywhere care about when and what their children eat. About every five years, an extremely important child nutrition bill is reauthorized to improve critical federal nutrition programs. Why should we care? Our country’s future economic and national security depends on these critical federal programs.

Alongside members of the Texas Food Bank Network (TFBN), the Capital Area Food Bank played an important role in advocating for the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. On December 13, 2010, President Obama signed the Act into law. Child nutrition advocates in Congress, and throughout the nation, won a major legislative victory for food

insecure children.

So back to the question: why should we care?

Hunger ignites a chain reaction. Children who aren’t properly nourished don’t do as well in school. Children who don’t do well in school may not graduate. High school drop-outs don’t qualify for well paying jobs and often can’t join the military. Obesity rates also affect our nation’s military readiness. Food insecure families don’t have the flexibility to pay for the things they need such as food, medicine, utilities, and other necessities. All of these factors affect our country’s economic competitiveness and national security.

Simply put, child nutrition programs represent an investment in our future.

This a major legislative victory.

Become anADVOCATE

Approval of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is a victory for millions of children at risk of hunger throughout our nation, many of whom are our neighbors, here, in Central Texas. It means healthier meals at school, a full meal for children participating in afterschool programs, and more children nourished during the summer. This measure would never have become law without the effective advocacy of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas and its counterparts. Together, we must continue to work to meet the needs of food insecure children, who have no voice without us.”

“

U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett

Thank you, Central Texas for helping us turn hungry holidays into happy holidays for thousands of hungry Central Texans!

October – December 2010

cafb community events

Wildflower Center Holiday Illuminations

Raised more than 6,800 pounds of food.

CANstruction AustinRaised more than $6,000 and

25,000 pounds of food.

3rd annual Kerbey Lane Can & Cookie DriveRaised more than $800 and 200 pounds of food.

Crawl for Cancer Food DriveRaised more than 1,300 pounds of food.

Extreme Makeover: Home EditionRaised more than 1,300 pounds of food.

Keller Williams Food DriveRaised more than 14,000 pounds of food.

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14th annual Austin Empty Bowl ProjectRaised the most funds in event history.

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to“Turn Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays” Campaign

Raised more than $500,000.

Thank you, Central Texas for helping us turn hungry holidays into happy holidays for thousands of hungry Central Texans!

October – December 201032ND ANNUAL CROP HUNGER WALKSaturday, March 5 & Sunday, March 6Walter E. Long Park - 6614 Blue Bluff Road

Saturday 9:30 AM registration; 10 AM step-off

Sunday 1:45 PM registration; 2:30 PM step-off

CROP Hunger Walk helps raise money for hunger-relief programs in Austin and around the world. Teams of neighbors, walkers, volunteers and sponsors with a passion to help end hunger and poverty put their hearts and soles in motion to make a difference. They walk because they want to end hunger - one step at a time. Won’t you join us? For more information visit: austinfoodbank.org/cropwalk

18TH ANNUAL AUSTIN REGGAE FESTIVALFriday, April 15 – Sunday, April 17Auditorium Shores – Riverside at South 1st Street

Friday3 PM Gates Open; 10 PM Park ClosesSaturday & Sunday11 AM gates Open; 10 PM Park Closes

Join thousands of reggae enthusiasts, for this Texas-sized celebration of spring bringing together world music, tasty food, arts & crafts, spectacular scenes and excellent people watching in Austin! Hosted at one of the city’s most popular outdoor venues, this event also helps feed hungry Central Texans by benefiting the Capital Area Food Bank. Purchase tickets in advance online for $12.50 beginning February 1, or at the gate for $15 (cash only). NEW THIS YEAR: Tents welcome with a permit. For more information and to purchase tent permits and tickets please visit: austinfoodbank.org/austinreggae

Get the facts about hunger at hungerisunacceptable.com

For more info on our events, follow us on Twitter: @events4goodcafb community eventsfor these upcoming events

that raise awareness about hunger in Central Texas:

join us

Easily double your impact by asking your employer to match your gift. Many companies also match dollars

for volunteer hours.

Visit http://www.matchinggifts.com/austinfoodbank/ to find out if your employer offers matching gifts.

MATCHING GIFTS

3rd annual Kerbey Lane Can & Cookie DriveRaised more than $800 and 200 pounds of food.

For a complete list of upcoming events, visit austinfoodbank.org/events

Extreme Makeover: Home EditionRaised more than 1,300 pounds of food.

2nd annual Legacy of Giving – Day of ServiceRaised more than 58,000 pounds of food.

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In support of our goal to make hunger a priority issue in Central Texas, this online resource will help inform, inspire, and make you a powerful advocate for change.

Features include: interactive hunger maps, the latest facts and studies about hunger, and stories from community members affected by hunger, with much more to be added in the coming months. Add your voice by joining the campaign online, uploading your photo to our Flickr group, or sending us your story about hunger.

“Hunger Is UNacceptable” Website Makes You a Powerful Advocate for Change.

Austin-Round Rock families stuck in the middle between poverty and the cost of living.

For the federal government, calculating poverty is

as simple as using the cost of food as a guideline

and applying that measure equally across the

country. In metro areas like Austin, families working

in low-wage jobs don’t make enough to live given

the local cost of living. Many more expenses – from

housing to transportation to health care – factor

into the costs of daily life. Often these families may

not be considered poor enough to qualify for safety

net programs like SNAP or WIC, but still struggle

to make ends meet. When it’s time to make tough

choices, the food budget often suffers.

Our new infographic shows the cost of living for

families of different sizes in the Austin-Round Rock

area based on the CPPP Family Budget Estimator

project.

http://www.austinfoodbank.org/hunger-is-unacceptable/stuck-in-the-middle

Hunger Relief Map

In times of emergency, how easy is it to access food? Are there

enough services for the most vulnerable - our older adults and

children? How far is the nearest HHSC office, WIC clinic or

farmers market?

This interactive map overlays poverty data on a Google map with

points of access to hunger relief services.

http://www.austinfoodbank.org/hunger-is-unacceptable/hunger-relief-map

New on HungerisUNacceptable.com

”

Hunger is 365 Days of the Year. You and Your Family Can Help.

”

The holiday lights are gone. The cards, decorations and seasonal good cheer put away for another twelve months. What hasn’t disappeared with the new year: hunger. Hunger respects no seasons of the year, or the holiday spirit. Hunger in Central Texas, today, is 24/7, 365 days of the year.

This means, we need your help year-round, too. There are many opportunities to help us throughout the year. Many of our food pantries and soup kitchen partners are frequently under-assisted.

Whether its signing up to volunteer to sort donated food, assisting our mobile food pantries as they visit communities to distribute food, or advocating on our behalf with your lawmaker at the Texas Legislature, you can do your part to help end hunger.

Hunger doesn’t stick to any calendar. We work every day of the year to end hunger. Join us today.

The 82nd Texas Legislature convened in Austin, on January 11, 2011. Help inform our elected officials about hunger in Central Texas and advocate for our food insecure neighbors. Sign up for Action Alerts — you’ll receive timely information on legislation, as well as tips for how you can improve the lives of hungry Central Texans by connecting with your elected officials.

Sign up: austinfoodbank.org/advocate

Advocate.

After the holidays, we have a tremendous amount of donated food that needs to be inspected, cleaned and sorted. We need extra help in February and March to prepare this food for distribution to our hungry friends and neighbors.

Sign up: austinfoodbank.org/volunteer

Volunteer.

The Food Bank can turn $1 into $5 worth of nutritious food, so we make it easy to donate every day of the year. Please consider making a financial gift using the enclosed remit or donate online.

Donate: austinfoodbank.org/donate

Donate.

For more information and ways you and your family can help, visit austinfoodbank.org

When I walk through our warehouse, I realize how especially

grateful I am for folks like you. Everything I see in it, which, by the

way, will be gone in about 30 days and replenished with new food,

is there because you donate your time, talents, financial gifts and

advocate on our behalf with elected officials. We have a lot to

celebrate from this past year:

• We nourished 48,000 Central Texans every week.

• We distributed 25 million pounds of food, including 2.7 million

pounds in September – our largest monthly distribution in the

history of the Food Bank.

• We launched our second “Wheels of Sharing” Mobile Food Pantry,

quadrupling the amount of people we can serve through this

program.

• We opened a new food pantry in the St. Johns neighborhood. This

pantry is designed to serve as a model for not just Central Texas,

but also our nation’s food banks.

• For the first time, we operated our Summer Food Service program

at 25 sites in neighborhoods where most children receive free or

reduced-price lunches during the school year.

• Our Summer Family Nutrition program enabled more than

5,600 Central Texas families to receive healthy food and nutrition

education.

And, we’ve also experienced some challenges.

This tough economy has affected more families, creating longer

food lines. One in seven Texans are now receiving SNAP benefits

(food stamps) — that’s 3.8 million of our friends and neighbors.

And, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which provides a

sweeping overhaul of child nutrition standards and improved access

to nutrition programs, was passed in Congress by cutting $2.2

billion from SNAP.

Throughout these challenges, you’ve been here, supporting us with

your gifts, and letting our leaders know we will not quit until we end

hunger.

We believe hunger is unacceptable, and you have shown us we can

accomplish what is right, even when it is not easy. Thank you for

your support. Together, we can end hunger.

CAFB Board of Directors

Matt Dow, Chairperson, Jackson Walker, L.L.P.

Catherine P. Thompson, Treasurer, Motion Computing

Michael J. Tomsu, Immediate Past Chairperson, Vinson & Elkins

Vanessa Downey-Little, Secretary, City of Austin, Retired

Melissa Anthony, AnthonyBarnum Public Relations

Heidi Baschnagel, National Instruments

John Cyrier, Sabre Commercial, Inc.

Mark Downing, Silicon Laboratories

Rick Gesing, Applied Materials

Ken Gladish, Ph.D., Seton Foundations

Deborah Kerr, Ph.D., Consultant

Melissa Mitchell, Ernst & Young

David Montoya, University of Texas School of Law

Sue Snyder, Jackson Walker, L.L.P.

Paula Soileau, American Heart Association

Leslie Sweet, H-E-B

Feedback?Questions, comments, or suggestions?

Change of address? Receiving duplicate copies?

communications@austinfoodbank.org

Read it onlineDownload & subscribe to CAFB publications at

austinfoodbank.org

Subscribe to our blogblog.austinfoodbank.org

Subscribe to our podcastaustinfoodbank.org/stories

Go mobile with our iPhone appiPheedANeed.com

Connect with us on

A member of

OUR MISSION: TO NOURISH HUNGRY PEOPLE AND LEAD THE COMMUNITY IN ENDING HUNGER.

The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas8201 S. Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78745 | (512) 282-2111

messagePresident & CEO

from the

@events4goodHANK PERRET

Interim President & CEO

The children’s drawings in this issue were created by Capital Area Food Bank CHOICES participants and clients.