THE IMPORTANCE OF NETWORKING TO EXPAND THE AFTERSCHOOL MEALS PROGRAM AND FEED MORE CHILDREN

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Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the 4th Annual Sector Forward Conference hosted by the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence (INIE) in Tallahassee. The conference brought nonprofit leaders together to share ideas and strategies for advancing social innovation. Since most of our recent efforts focused on South Florida, I was looking forward to attending the conference and getting the lay of the land for nonprofits here in Tallahassee and the Big Bend area.

On the first day, I attended the Children & Families Collab Lab, which provided an opportunity to get to know other organizations focused on children and family issues through a sort of speed-networking set-up. I met representatives from the City of Tallahassee youth engagement program and the county health department, the director of a smart-play preschool, an advocate for the establishment of a children’s services council in Leon County, the director of an at-risk afterschool program, and several other nonprofit executive directors and staff.

On Day 2, I attended the keynote speaker’s presentation focused on his belief that the majority of the world’s problems can be solved in two hours or less. THAT was interesting! The rest of the day was spent attending several workshops including Fire Up! Your Leadership: Be a Hero to Your People presented by Snowden McFall, FiredUp!, Case Study Panel: The Need for Social Entrepreneurs – When Societal Solutions Meets Business moderated by Michael Campbell, Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, and Leadership Panel: Heroic Leaders Tell All moderated by Snowden McFall.

At the 4th Annual Sector Forward Conference I made many new contacts, learned about leadership and nonprofit management, and enjoyed the keynote speaker presentation. The best and most rewarding part, though, was that I was able to connect a nonprofit afterschool program serving at-risk children with an Afterschool Meals Program sponsor. Before our discussion, the afterschool director had never even heard of the Afterschool Meals Program, but passionately described how she witnesses the effects of hunger on her children every day. She was nearly brought to tears when I told her that she could potentially feed these children a five-component “supper” each day and be reimbursed 100% for doing so.

After the conference, I facilitated a call between the director and a representative from the sponsor agency. We are hopeful that the kids attending this afterschool program will start receiving meals this month. THAT is why I LOVE this job!

 

– Katie Williams

Chief Operating Officer

Florida Impact to End Hunger

SEEING IS BELIEVING | A WORD FROM OUR REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF SOUTHEAST FLORIDA

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For the past two summers, thanks to the Seeing the World program funded by the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, I have had an opportunity to witness the big, bright smiles on the faces of children receiving a new pair of free glasses, just in time for the start of school. It is such a rewarding experience to watch their excitement, picking out and being fitted with their shiny new pair of specs at their local Summer BreakSpot site. The parents were so appreciative as well.

I am thrilled to report that 160 children were able to take advantage of this service. Think about it: these children, whose families may have otherwise not been able to cover the high cost of vision care, get to start the new school year being able to see the chalkboard and read books without being hindered by poor vision.

A big thanks goes out to Dr. Adam Cherry and his team for the caring way they provided thorough exams and vision services to our Summer BreakSpot kids this year. It’s a win-win for everyone!

 

– Sue McAllister

Regional Director of Southeast Florida

Florida Impact to End Hunger

BRINGING EASY AND AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO NUTRITION IN MIAMI GARDENS

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This past month, we took a huge step forward in our Healthy Corner Stores project in Miami Gardens. Not only have we completed our survey of food stores in the city and started our individual food environmental survey for residents, but we have now also started recruiting stores to the project. For this, Trudy (our President/CEO), Shirbrina (our summer intern), Tracy (representing Miami Gardens), and I spent an entire day visiting all of our target stores.

Of the more than 80 food retailers in the city, our focus is on the 15 independent retailers who already accept EBT. Despite the proliferation of national chain stores across the city, small, independent food retailers can still be found throughout Miami Gardens.

As competition has increased, many of these stores have had to find their niche. Some focus on serving specific ethnic communities with their local foods, while others have unfortunately turned to alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy snacks. Our goal is to support these stores in refining or redefining their niche, and becoming a resource for affordable, high-quality, nutritious foods for the local community.

This way, our project balances the needs of the community with the needs of the businesses. We have been very fortunate to bring in both local and national partners to make this project successful, and to build upon best practices from similar projects across the country. This is a new direction for Florida Impact to End Hunger, and we’re excited to see where it leads!

– Sam Hopwood

Regional Director of South Florida

Florida Impact to End Hunger

#teamstories

IMPROVING COMMUNITY WELLNESS WITH THE LIVE HEALTHY MIAMI GARDENS PROJECT

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Working on the Live Healthy Miami Gardens Project has been great! By unpopular opinion, surveying has been an awesome experience and has also helped build momentum for the project. People grew their interest in the project and it brought more attention to their health decisions. It was interesting to see people’s interpretations of our project’s goal and how they related it to their own lives. Traveling from universities to stores and to local parks has shown me the intensity of surveying, however, it is a great technique to reach as many people as possible!

I also participated in the recruiting local stores for the project. This uncovered which businesses are motivated to give back to the community and also introduce more healthier options in the stores. Some owners were more willing than others, but this is only the beginning.

We came up with a list of amazing stores that showed interest in participating in the Live Healthy Miami Gardens project. It was great to hear the owner’s concerns about stock, price, and quality.

Our efforts are going to help build a relationship with store owners and in turn improve their relationship with the community. I look forward to the future success of working with the City of Miami Gardens and Florida Impact to End Hunger!

#teamstories

LESSONS FROM HURRICANE DORIAN | A WORD FROM OUR PRESIDENT/CEO

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Last month, as we anxiously awaited the arrival of Hurricane Dorian in Florida, we were told to stock up on medications, non-perishable items, gas, batteries, and water. This created a flurry of activity at grocery stores and gas stations.

But what about those of us who don’t have money to stock up? What about those whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds/food stamps have been exhausted? What about the frail and the elderly who may not get their meal delivery? What about the kids who rely on their free lunch at school as their main meal of the day and school is closed? What about the working poor, who make too much to qualify for public benefits, but their employer closes the business and if they don’t work, they don’t get paid?

Many people in Florida don’t have the luxury of stocking up. When an emergency hits they have no safety net. Disaster relief is so important to so many people. We thank the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Florida Department of Children and Families for releasing SNAP payments for Floridians early this month as the storm approached, and for the SNAP replacement benefits offered to those SNAP recipients who lost food due to the hurricane power outages. We only have to look to the Bahamas to realize how lucky we were in Florida this time.

All of this being said, it is sad to me that the Trump administration tries to whittle away at these essential benefits for those most in need. The recently-enacted changes to the Public Charge long-standing policy by the Department of Homeland Security has a chilling effect on immigrants who may be entitled to SNAP assistance, but are now too fearful to seek help. As if that wasn’t enough, USDA is now proposing eliminating a method of calculating benefits under SNAP that would cut 9% of SNAP recipients from the program in Florida.

Having enough food to eat is a basic human right. In a country as wealthy as the United States of America, no one should have to go without food, especially children and the elderly who are disproportionately effected by these rule changes.

The 2019 United States Census data came out September 10 and, once again, people began debating its accuracy and sides were chosen on how well we are really doing on the war on poverty. Florida Impact to End Hunger is ready to continue fighting this war. Hunger should not exist in this country. There is still much work to be done.

 

Trudy Novicki

President/CEO

Florida Impact