In last month’s Newsletter we reported the following:
Har Zion Temple in Philadelphia has paid another visit to Whitwell Middle School.
On this trip to Whitwell from Philadelphia the wonderful folks took the Middle Schoolers shopping at Sav-A-Lot to buy food for the foodbank.
We hoped to have many details but all we have learned that the good folks of Har Zion Temple went shopping with the students at WMS and bought 800 pounds of food for the Food Bank.
More than 22 million children receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program during the school year, but when school is out, fewer than 4 million receive meals through the USDA Summer Food Service Program. This means millions of kids do not get the food they need during the summer months. Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund, writes that states and localities can and must do far more to stop summer hunger. Read the Article »
There is much discussion about the administration’s proposed cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Late last year, the University of Maryland’s Program on Public Consultation conducted a nationwide survey measuring support for increasing SNAP benefits. About 81 percent supported raising SNAP benefits for the average recipient, while 11 percent favored lowering benefits and 8 percent wanted to keep them the same. Read the Article »
1http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/news-and-updates/hunger-blog/hunger-in-the-news-060217.html
2016 was a busy year for MCCM. As you can see from the Figure 1, we distributed 9,508 boxes of food to 6,711 families. We have 1,295 active families who needed food assistance during 2016, so obviously some families needed assistance more than once. Figure 2 shows the actual visit distribution. The total number of visits was 1,290 which means that 5 families are on the way to independence and will soon become “inactive” and 626 families needed assistance 3 or fewer times. That’s good news!
The Good Neighbors Program paid grants totaling $21,669 to various utility companies on behalf of 308 families. As you can see from the Figure 3 the Good Neighbors Program had to close during the summer months in order to conserve resources for the winter months.
Hunger hurts everyone, but it is especially devastating in childhood because hunger deprives kids of more than just food.
On empty stomachs, kids don’t have the energy to focus, engage, learn and grow. Yet, this is the reality for 1 in 6 children in the U.S. who worry about when they’ll have their next meal.
A food-insecure family of four is estimated to need the equivalent of nearly 100 additional meals a month because they lack enough money to buy food.
84% of households with at least one child served by the Feeding America network report purchasing the cheapest food available, even if it wasn’t the healthiest option to provide enough food for the household.
20% of food-insecure children live in households that earn too much to qualify for most federal nutrition assistance—these families rely on charitable organizations like Feeding America to make ends meet.
The Food Bank and Good Neighbors Programs will be closed on Christmas Eve, December 24 and New Years Eve.
Again this month, we have Good News and we have Bad News!
First the Good News:
The building foundation has been reinforced and strengthened, the building is straight and level, the new HVAC unit has been installed to replace the failing and woefully inadequate unit that was there and our electric bill is considerably lower because of the increased efficiency of the new HVAC unit.
Now for the bad news:
The repairs cost MCCM $20,635.
If you would like to help us defray the $20,635 cost of these building repairs we would greatly appreciate your help.
Please make your check payable to:
Work was to have begun on July 27 to correct the building settling issues. Unfortunately a bunch of neighborhood dogs has taken up residence in the crawl space having found a way around the barrier guarding the entrance. Our canine neighbors brought with them a nasty infestation of fleas who did not want to be intruded upon by workers. We have suspended work for two weeks while an exterminator rids the building crawlspace of the infestation.
We hope to report in next month’s newsletter that the building has been repaired and that our HVAC is repaired.
If you would like to help us defray the $20,000 cost of these building repairs we would greatly appreciate your help.
Please make your check payable to ‘MCCM Building Fund’ and mail it to PO Box 681, Sequatchie, TN 37374.
Good Neighbors Reopens tomorrow, October, 4, 2016. Thanks to all who have contributed to building up our resources so that we can reopen.
The annual US Postal Service Letter Carrier’s campaign called ‘Help Stamp Out Hunger’ was again a success.
We are very grateful for the letter carriers in Marion County for their hard work in collecting food for MCCM.
This year’s drive resulted in excess of 4,000 pounds or two tons of food collected. That translates to approximately 3,300 meals.