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Food Deserts Mark the Urban LandscapesAmerica’s most vibrant cities are a food-lover’s paradise, where upscale neighborhoods packed with restaurants, gourmet food shops, and supermarkets cater to their every delight. Just a few miles away, however, poor and elderly consumers are struggling to find fresh, healthy, and affordable food for their families. These enclaves are known as food deserts; areas with plenty of fast food restaurants, liquor stores, and convenience stores but little or no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. In some urban areas, supermarkets have moved to the suburbs or higher-income parts of the city. Low-income earners and senior citizens who remain find healthy foods either unavailable or inaccessible as a result of high prices and unreachable locations. Convenience store fruits and vegetables are often priced well beyond customers’ ability to pay, leaving less expensive but less healthy foods the only option. The explosion in childhood obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other nutrition-related health problems has shone a light on food deserts and the public and private sectors are beginning to mobilize in response. Private foundations are helping local non-profits attract full-service supermarkets to low-income neighborhoods. The USDA Community Food Project grant program funds innovative solutions. Arlin Wasserman, Sodexo’s Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, sees a role for Sodexo in tackling the food desert problem. “Sodexo is already a leader in fighting hunger through Feeding Our Future, the Community Kitchen program, and other STOP Hunger efforts,” said Wasserman. “We strongly believe that the food industry has a responsibility to address the issue of food deserts. Sodexo has taken a leadership role through our programs like Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future which operates in 18 cities across America; as well as our support of the Community Kitchen program and The Campus Kitchens Project. We hope that our example will encourage other food companies to return to these communities and provide fresh and nutritious food to underserved urban consumers.” Food Desert Media Coverage Demand for Meal Services Soars with Aging Population
This trend is of grave concern to the Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA). “Fourteen percent of congregate (out-of-home dining centers) participants and 26% of home-delivered participants are 85 years and older, and as their numbers increase, so will the strain on the already scarce resources of nutrition programs for the elderly,” warns the MOWAA on its web site. Just as Meals on Wheels needs to ramp-up its capacity, the non-profit says its programs are “more in danger than ever before. Currently four out of ten Meals On Wheels programs have waiting lists and some are even facing bankruptcy.” Nationally 40% of providers delivering meals to the homebound elderly are oversubscribed. Senior lunch providers are required by federal law to serve people 60 and older, yet federal funding—which provides less the half of the cost of a meal—has been flat in recent years. Lunch providers draw on state and local funding, donations, and program participants to make up the rest. The aging of the baby boomers should not be taking anyone by surprise…but clearly more attention needs to be paid to how the food and nutrition needs of seniors will be met in the coming decades. 12th Annual Sodexo Servathon Set for April
Employees gain gratifying experiences while developing important team-building skills. Activities may include fundraisers, canned food drives, donations of surplus food, cleaning food banks, and signing up for payroll deductions to the Sodexo Foundation. In 2007, more than 33,000 employees collected 100 tons of food and served more than 50,000 meals for the Foundation’s efforts to fight hunger in America. Learn More about the Sodexo Servathon Click here to donate to the Sodexo Servathon. Erasing the Stigma of Food Assistance…With a Hip Hop BeatCountless studies have shown that children who eat breakfast and lunch perform better on standardized tests, are tardy or absent less often, have fewer behavioral issues, and are more attentive in the classroom. Unfortunately, students often shy away from enrolling in the National School Lunch Program free and reduced-priced meal plan (NSLP) for fear of being labeled “poor” by their peers or teachers. Even though students taking free or reduced-priced meals retain their anonymity at the cash register (all students use pre-paid debit cards so no one knows who is receiving assistance), many students feel a stigma associated with applying for help In Rhode Island, Solange Morrissette, general manager of Sodexo’s public school account, found a creative way to erase the stigma of applying for assistance and increase student participation. She teamed up with Rhode Island’s #1 hip-hop station and the RI Credit Union to host a two-day NSLP application drive event at Tolman High School. DJ’s played the students’ favorite artists and discussed the importance of eating well and staying healthy. They also encouraged students to turn in completed NSLP applications (regardless of eligibility,) which were then used as entry forms for a chance to win prizes like movie tickets, CD’s, T-shirts, and duffle bags. After the event, Tolman High school saw an immediate 18% increase in the number of students participating in lunch; 20% of those students had siblings at other schools that were also eligible. That’s an increase of 18,000 meals served to Tolman students over the school year. Steve Brady, president of the Sodexo Foundation, said initiatives like the Tolman “carnival” extend the company’s commitment to providing nutritious food to low-income children. “Our Feeding Our Future program provides nutritious meals for NSLP-dependent children during the summer months, when they might otherwise go hungry. Clearly, the Rhode Island schools program shows that even during the school year, there is work to be done to ensure every child is properly nourished.” Foundations Put Hunger and Poverty on Political AgendaIssues of hunger, poverty, and opportunity have taken a back seat in this year’s presidential election as war and the economy dominate the news and voters’ concerns. To shine a spotlight on hunger and its related issues, a number of private foundations have joined forces to launch the Spotlight on Poverty. Spearheaded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (with collaborative partners The Eos Foundation, Endowment for Health, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, and The George Gund Foundation) Spotlight on Poverty seeks to engage presidential, congressional and local candidates in substantive discussions about poverty and keep these issues in the forefront as a new administration sets its agenda. The three components of Spotlight on Poverty are:
Article ArchivesSTOP Hunger eZine Issues Vol. 3 Issue 2: STOP Hunger eZine - March 2008 |
March. 2008 - Volume 3/Issue 2
In this issue: 
Sodexo Foundation and the America’s Second Harvest BackPack ProgramWhen children at risk of hunger are in school, they can enjoy nutritious meals through the National School Lunch Program’s free and reduced-priced meal plan. (See the related article Erasing the Stigma of Food Assistance…With a Hip Hop Beat in this issue of the STOP Hunger ezine) When those same children go home for the weekend or vacation, their food needs may not be met. The BackPack Program from America’s Second Harvest Sodexo and the Sodexo Foundation have closely collaborated with America’s Second Harvest and its local food bank affiliates to bring the BackPack Program to Sodexo school accounts. The Sodexo Foundation has provided funding for BackPack Programs that are supported by Sodexo employees, serving more than 1,000 students weekly. The school districts select the eligible children and administer the program; the local food bank provides the food to be distributed in backpacks; and Sodexo provides volunteers to fill and distribute the backpacks to the designated distribution site. In many communities where there is a BackPack Program, Sodexo employees have been involved in launching it as well as donating their own time and money to get it started. In 2006 the Sodexo Foundation provided a $3,000 grant to Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to help offset costs for the Sodexo supported program at the Tulsa public schools. Sodexo’s Tulsa schools’ General Manager, Hossein Akhtarkhavari, said his team finds creative ways to extend its support of the Food Bank. “In addition to providing volunteers for the BackPack Program, we hold raffles and other fundraising events and we provide leftover food for the Food Bank’s feeding sites. We’re proud to use our skills and resources to help feed low-income children and families in the Tulsa metro area.” |
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On January 1, 2008 the first baby boomer turned 62 years old and became eligible for social security, yet one more milestone for this post-war generation. Over the next two decades, according to the 
Every April, Sodexo employees participate in a nationwide community service initiative to fight hunger in the United States. During the month-long Sodexo Servathon, now in its 12th year, thousands of employees join forces to fundraise, donate food, and serve meals in their local communities. In recent years the Servathon has become one of the Sodexo Foundation’s largest fundraisers.