World Food Programme: Meet Freerice: The World Food Programme’s new Youth Hub. “The new Freerice aims to empower and engage young people to learn more about topics like hunger, sustainability and gender equality. It provides them resources and ideas on how to become advocates in their communities.”
PR Newswire: New Agricultural Data Tool Can Help Fight the Growing Food Crisis in Africa (PRESS RELEASE). “The Food Security Tracker for Africa provides free access to real-time data about the supply and demand of major crops, including corn, soy, wheat, and rice for African countries. By combining data on drought, crop conditions, prices, supply and demand all in one place, users will be able to develop more effective solutions and emergency response plans to the growing shortages of key agricultural commodities across the continent.”
NPR: Millions of children will miss healthy school meals when pandemic relief expires. “When schools pivoted to virtual learning early in the pandemic, the National School Lunch Program was thrown into chaos. Millions of children rely on school meals to keep hunger at bay, so school nutrition directors scrambled to adopt new, creative ways to distribute food to families. Some of these changes were improvements on the status quo, they say. And as part of pandemic relief legislation, the federal Food and Nutrition services agency waived the requirement that schools serve meals in a group setting, increased school-year reimbursement rates to summer levels for school food programs and granted more flexibility in how food is prepared and packaged.”
Hartford Courant: Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum collection to move in its entirety to Fairfield. “The collection of art and artifacts that make up Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum is moving in its entirety to Fairfield, it was announced on Friday by Quinnipiac University, which closed the museum last summer. Gaelic America Club (GAC) in Fairfield will be the new home of the world’s largest collection of art and artifacts about the 1845-1852 Great Hunger, QU spokesman John Morgan said in a news release.”
ABC News: Food banks nationwide face staffing, supply shortages. “Local food banks nationwide are struggling to keep up with demand, due to staffing and food shortages as the omicron COVID-19 surge continues to ravage the country.”
KERA News: North Texas food banks prepare for another uncertain year as COVID-19 omicron variant hits. “Food banks across North Texas are preparing for another uncertain year as the new COVID-19 variant omicron spreads across the country. For Kara Nickens, CEO of the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, 2021 looked a lot like 2020. ‘Last year, we [distributed] 4.4 million pounds of food, and we’re right on track to end with that same amount,’ Nickens said. ‘We’re a small food bank. So for us, that’s a lot. It really pushes the limit because we have such a small staff here, and we have a 12-county area.’”
Associated Press: COVID-19 Spike Worsens Africa’s Severe Poverty, Hunger Woes. “Nearly two years into a global pandemic, a new spike in coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant is once again shuttering businesses, halting travel, reviving fears of overwhelmed hospitals and upending travel and holiday plans in countries around the world. But in Zimbabwe and other African nations, the virus’s resurgence is threatening the very survival of millions of people who have already been driven to the edge by a pandemic that has devastated their economies. When putting food on the table is not a given, worries about whether to gather with family members for the holiday or heed public announcements urging COVID-19 precautions take a back seat.”
Devex: Tracking food waste and loss is hard. A new database makes it easier. “A new database is collecting research on post-harvest food loss and waste to help inform policymakers and academic researchers as they seek to reduce the estimated one-third of food that is grown but not consumed…. The database, which launched in November, currently contains more than 200 papers with information from more than 80 countries and 22 crops.”
Associated Press: Fewer in US turn to food banks, but millions still in need. “Hunger and food insecurity across the United States have dropped measurably over the past six months, but the need remains far above pre-pandemic levels. And specialists in hunger issues warn that the situation for millions of families remains extremely fragile.”
PR Newswire: ‘End Child Hunger in Alabama’ provides county-by-county food guide resources (PRESS RELEASE). “With the assistance of five institute team members, nearly 100 community volunteers and more than 2,500 hours of commitment, the food guide at aub.ie/foodguides now boasts a statewide database of nearly 7,000 food resources.”
Free Malaysia Today: Feed Malaysia connects the needy with food aid, resources. “Food banks and soup kitchens have become lifesavers for many. But it isn’t always easy to know the location of these initivaties, and finding a food bank or soup kitchen may be difficult for those incapable of long-distance travel. These are issues a group of local youths are tackling through their new website, Feed Malaysia. Launched on Aug 28, the platform lists food banks and aid organisations by location, allowing visitors to identify the ones closest to them. At present, 748 food banks and aid organisations are listed on Feed Malaysia, with more added regularly. The website also provides donation and volunteer pages, as well as helpful links to free mental health helplines.” The site is available in Malay, English, and Chinese.
Bloomberg Government: Food Insecurity for Children Spiked in 2020, New Report Says (1). “Kids in about 2.9 million homes nationwide went hungry at some point last year during the coronavirus pandemic, new Agriculture Department data show. That’s children in about 7.6% of U.S. households with kids, an uptick from 6.5% in 2019, the latest Economic Research Service study on food security reported. The annual survey helps the agency determine the extent of food access across the country.”
Brookings Institution: Beyond ‘food deserts’: America needs a new approach to mapping food insecurity. “Even in 2019—before the pandemic and after years of steadily declining food insecurity rates—10.5% of U.S. households still faced food insecurity. This rate was highest among households with incomes below the poverty line (34.9%) and single-mother households (28.7%). Latino or Hispanic and Black households experienced food insecurity rates of 15.6% and 19.1%, respectively—disproportionately higher than white households (7.9%). Why, even outside of economic crisis, do over one in 10 families still face food insecurity?”
Politico: Round one of child tax credit payments slashed hunger rates, U.S. data shows. “The percentage of American families with kids who report not having enough to eat fell dramatically after the first child tax credit payments were distributed last month, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The government’s finding shows that the monthly payments are having a major and immediate impact on millions of households, potentially bolstering President Joe Biden’s push to extend the tax credit past the end of this year, when it is set to expire.”
IrishCentral: The shocking story behind an Irish Famine memorial in Quebec. “Located along the banks of the Gatineau River in western Quebec, just north of Canada’s National Capital Region, a sleepy rural community still holds deep Irish roots. It is here, in Low, Quebec, where a unique memorial stands in testament to the survivors of Ireland’s Great Hunger who settled this area in the 1800s.”
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