Tag Archives: Hunger

From the Field: Miriam’s Kitchen

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By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

An early Saturday morning, in a church basement in Foggy Bottom, DC parents bring their children to learn about what it means to be homeless in Washington. Last Saturday, Miriam’s Kitchen hosted Coats and Coffee, an education and awareness event that offered kids the chance to do service around the “kitchen” while also learning about the clients that Miriam’s serves — in an age-appropriate way. Sherika Brooks and I stopped by to drop off our donations of coffee (Miriam’s goes through thousands of cups a week) and learn a bit more about the services they offer.

Miriam’s Kitchen is unique among nonprofits offering outreach services for those experiencing homelessness. As one of Miriam’s Kitchen’s case managers explained to us, Miriam’s operates first and foremost under the context of hospitality — welcoming clients with a smile and a nametag (whatever that name might be for the day), offering a cup of hot coffee, a freshly prepared meal, and then the option to learn about and access additional services if desired. Relationships are the focus == and meeting clients where they’re at is the method. Another unique aspect of Miriam’s Kitchen program is Miriam’s Studio, an art therapy program that helps to “build a strong community and relationships with their guests.” The products of this program cover the walls of the dining room at Miriam’s Kitchen — beautiful pieces of art that show the diversity of life experiences that Miriam’s guests bring into the space.

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From the Field: Thrive DC

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By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator
& Sherika Brooks, Executive Assistant

This Saturday, the Catalogue team in DC (Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator, and Sherika Brooks, Executive Assistant) spent the afternoon volunteering at Day of Nurture, an event organized by In One Day and supported by Catalogue nonprofit Thrive DC. For the second month in a row, Day of Nurture has provided meals to the homeless in Franklin Square, as well as information about services that Thrive DC offers for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Along with a great crew of volunteers from MeetUp.com and DC Volunteers, Sherika and I pitched in to provide a healthy meal of donated food, drinks, and even popsicles to a group of over 100 individuals who either spend time in the park regularly or were informed about the event during canvassing the week before. Both Sherika and I felt lucky to experience the work of a Catalogue nonprofit first hand, and look forward to spending more time volunteering with Catalogue nonprofits over the coming months.

Thankfully for In One Day, Washington DC is one city that still allows the provision of outdoor public meals for the homeless at a time when many cities are pushing to ban the practice. The Huffington Post recently wrote about the city of Philadelphia’s ban on feeding the homeless outdoors, following the lead of other major cities including Atlanta, San Diego and Los Angeles. Over 50 cities across the country have enacted anti-camping or anti-food-sharing laws. Public officials who support this legislation argue that the laws prevent the spread of illness, direct the homeless to other services, and protect local parks from damage. However, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reports that the same cities that have enacted such laws “have recently seen an increase in overall homelessness and family homelessness.” We hope that DC continues to allow direct service and meal provision to individuals experiencing homelessness throughout the city and hope to contribute further to efforts such as Day of Nurture in the future!

For more information about additional Catalogue nonprofits offering services to Greater Washington’s homeless population, check out Catalogue’s Human Services nonprofits here.

Summer Hunger

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Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

“Summertime, and the living is easy.” But not for everyone. For many children across the country, summer is a time when free or reduced school meals stop and kids struggle to maintain consistent nourishment. According to Share Our Strength, although more than 21 million US students receive free or reduced lunches at school, only 3 million kids receive free meals during the summer. National organizations like Share Our Strength, which is committed to eradicating childhood hunger in America, and Feeding America, a national food bank network, coordinate programs across the country to mitigate child hunger and provide summer meals.

Nationwide, DC stands out in terms of the services that it provides to low-income students during summer vacation. The Washington Post published an article this week, detailing programs offered by several District offices that address both the lack of affordable meals and educational programming that many students face in the summer. The DC Public Library, DDC Hunger Solutions, and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) have teamed up to “sponsor free meals at 11 public libraries this summer to encourage reading.” Thanks to programs like these, the Food and Research Action Center (FRAC) “ranks the District as the top jurisdiction in the country for serving summer meals to low income children, with the city reaching 73.5 percent of those eligible for such meals.”

Several Catalogue for Philanthropy nonprofits are also part of the movement, providing additional services to students over the summer. One such organization is a new 2012-13 Catalogue nonprofit, Horizons Greater Washington, which focuses on “mitigating the summer decline in students’ academic achievement” by offering summer programs to boost interest in learning and improve children’s scholastic achievement during the entire year. Higher Achievement’s programming includes a Summer Academy for students to keep up their coursework; and Horton’s Kids “provides literacy programming to prevent the ‘summer slide’ and to prepare children for the coming school year.”

Does your nonprofit or foundation support additional summer programming for kids to provide for their nutritional and/or educational needs? Share your comments and experiences with us!

Day of Giving

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Happy Thanksgiving, Greater Washington! If you’re looking to support or volunteer with an organization in your neighborhood on this coming holiday weekend, we have the list for you. Check out what’s needed and what you can do at some of Catalogue’s human service nonprofits. (And we’ll be back to our regular GoodWorks programming on Monday)

Carpenter’s Shelter: Alexandria, VA

Each family, more than 100 in total, in the Aftercare program receives a basket full of essential ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. Items needed range from boxes of stuffing to mashed potatoes to ziploc bags. Full list right here:

Doorways for Women and Families: Arlington, VA

Doorways, which strives to end domestic violence and homelessness, offers 6 ways to help out throughout this holiday season, including sponsoring a family and purchasing cards drawn by a child in the housing program.

FACETS Cares: Fairfax, VA

Seeking cooks for Turkeys and side dishes (ingredients provided) on November 22-24, volunteers to assemble and deliver food on Thanksgiving, AND food drive assistants that weekend! All info is right here.

Food for Others: Fairfax, VA

A full calendar of volunteer opportunities from 9 AM to 5 PM today and tomorrow includes directing truck traffic, sorting food, and distributing it to clients. Interested? Read the full schedule here or email nclifford@foodforothers.org.

Lorton Community Action Center: Lorton, VA

In serving clients of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, LCAC is not seeking the traditional American Thanksgiving provisions. A complete list is right here. The drop-off date was last Sunday, but give LCAC a call (contact info below) to see if they have everything that they need.

Manna Food Center: Gaithersburg, MD

Check out Channel 9’s report on Manna’s “need for turkeys” (and other protein items) from earlier this month. You can drop off food donations from 8 AM to 4 PM today and tomorrow, but locations are closed on Thursday.

Miriam’s Kitchen: Washington, DC

All volunteer spots are booked for Thanksgiving, but do check out the coverage of Miriam’s Kitchen on USA Today. This holiday, Miriam’s will be serving 150 homeless people its first all-organic or local Thanksgiving dinner (turkey included).

Our Daily Bread: Fairfax, VA

Every Saturday, November 5 through December 10, Our Daily Bread and Combined Properties host a fall food drive; full list of locations here. You also can sponsor a family through the holiday season.

In The News …

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Nation’s report card: Kids showing a bit of improvement in math, but many still not proficient (Washington Post Local): “The nation’s report card on math and reading shows fourth- and eighth-graders scoring their best ever in math and eighth graders making some progress in reading. But the results released Tuesday are a stark reminder of just how far the nation’s school kids are from achieving the No Child Left Behind law’s goal […] Just a little more than one-third of the students were proficient or higher in reading. In math, 40 percent of the fourth-graders and 35 percent of the eighth-graders had reached that level.” According to the article, Maryland students in both grades showed reading improvement; according to WAMU, “Virginia’s scores in reading and mathematics remain higher than nationwide averages.”

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In The News …

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Go Big on Education: Five Big Ideas for the Senate to Put in Federal Education Law (Center for American Progress): “Next week the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act” and CAP here outlines “five big policy ideas the Senate should put in its bill to ensure the next ESEA is big and bold enough to improve the education system, and thus our nation’s economy.” The fifth and final recommendation? Encourage and reward bold thinking by educators, authorizing “competitive programs such as Race to the Top, the Investing in Innovation Fund, or the Teacher Incentive Fund, to spur states and districts to innovation.” Do you agree?

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7 Questions – Kathleen Sibert (A-SPAN)

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Catalogue welcomes … Kathleen Sibert, Executive Director of the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network (A-SPAN), whose workers reach out directly to to homeless men and women — frequenting wooded areas, overpasses, parks, and abandoned buildings, encouraging them to pick up a bagged meal and to drop in at Opportunity Place, the hub of A-SPAN’s operations. Want to take part? A-SPAN’s clients need new glasses and bus fares for job interviews. Help out HERE!

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

The most interesting recent project that we are involved in is the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which is being brought to Arlington as 100 Homes. It is a national initiative to house the most vulnerable people living on the streets and is a powerful way to end homelessness.

2. What else are you up to?

We are constantly working to expand the services that we offer to our clients who live on the streets of Arlington. We run the Arlington’s Emergency Winter Shelter from November through March and brought nursing services there, which has significantly improved the health of our clients and dramatically reduced the number of times they are seen at the Emergency Room and in the hospital. Continue reading →

In The News …

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A bundle of non-profit and local news coming your way …

Capital Area Food Bank to begin charging members for produce (Washington Post): “For the first time in its history, the Capital Area Food Bank will begin charging its members for fruits and vegetables July 1, adding thousands in unexpected costs for some of the 700 agencies that rely on the organization to feed the region’s hungry.” The new initiative is a result of ever-increasing demands for the services of local food organizations, despite the improving economy. The trend is alarming, and indicates that local non-profits working to combat hunger will certainly require additional support in the coming year.

Gentrification a matter of economics, not ethnicity (Greater Greater Washington): At the NPR Building last week, a panel of young black professionals debated the question of DC’s gentrification … and “although the assembled group, almost entirely African-American with a majority female, acknowledged it is ‘dangerous to say that gentrification is not a race issue,’ the consensus held strongly that gentrification more closely correlates with economics.” Do you agree? Continue reading →

7 Questions – Carina Gervacio (Brainfood)

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Let’s welcome … Carina Gervacio, Program Coordinator at Brainfood! In an after-school program that gets at-risk youth off the streets and into the kitchen, Brainfood teaches cooking alongside reading, math, science, creativity, teamwork, and leadership.

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

On Thursday, June 2nd, Brainfood graduates led a cooking demo at the Penn Quarter Farmers Market through Fresh Farm’s “Chef at the Market” program. Our students typically cook in our industrial kitchen, so it was a real treat to be making food outdoors, handing out samples, and talking with market customers about easy ways to cook with farmers market produce. The Farmers Market Fried Rice students made featured great market ingredients, including local mushrooms, asparagus, seasonal garlic scapes, and farm-fresh eggs. The best takeaway from the event, however, was seeing how easily Brainfood grads stepped into leadership roles and relished the chance to share their cooking skills with the public.

2. What else are you up to?

There’s really great energy (both nationally and in DC) behind improving food access, promoting urban agriculture, and building community through food and cooking. At Brainfood, we’re trying to build on this momentum with the fall launch of our Community MVPs program. This program is geared towards Brainfood grads who want to stay involved with Brainfood for a second year and use their cooking and leadership skills to give back to the community. The MVPs will develop a curriculum to teach hands-on cooking classes to community groups, and the focus of these classes will be teaching healthy food alternatives to residents and groups in the District. This summer, we’ll be putting all the pieces in place to roll out this new program in the fall. It’s a big task, but one that I’m excited to take on. Continue reading →

In The News …

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Welcome to Wednesday! Let’s see what’s in the non-profit and local news …

The US Maternal Health Crisis: 14 Numbers You Need To Know — Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday and at Amnesty International, “we’re honoring mothers by fighting for maternal health.” As an update to last year’s report on maternal health in the US, Amnesty has also released some striking numbers: “49: The number of countries that have lower maternal mortality ratios than the US” and “2x: Women living in low-income areas across the US were 2 times as likely to suffer a maternal death.”

Mapping DC’s Food Deserts — Do look over the US Department of Agriculture‘s map of food deserts (low income areas without grocery store access) published on DCentric yesterday: “About 18,000 DC residents live in food deserts … In one such food desert, 39 percent of residents are children. And although Prince George’s County … has more food deserts, DC’s deserts have a higher concentrations of children.” The article also points out that the health problems are two-fold: “Violence and the perception of violence creates environments in which children and adults are less likely to go outside, walk, bike and generally be active.”

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