Social Media Does Double Duty

September is not just Hunger Action Month; it’s also the height of hurricane season for Gulf Coast residents. For low-income Texas families, hurricane season can be yet another emotional and financial strain – especially with the costs associated with evacuation. While federal programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and non-profits are at the heart of disaster relief, it still takes active participation from the community to put ideas and processes into action.

Yesterday’s HAM-up Grill-up at Whole Foods is one way the social media community helped us do double duty – emergency food relief for both Central Texans and recent evacuees to Central Texas.

As a line formed to order grilled kabobs, participants donated cash and the five non-perishable food items we’ve requested for disaster relief efforts. Thanks for helping raise $128. We’re still tallying up total for grilled items and nonperishable donations. Whole Foods will place the big blue donation barrel at their store entrance over the weekend to collect even more donations!

Our Twitter friends from Stalelife and Adomatica canceled their Food Drive Bike Ride planned for Saturday’s HAM-up. Instead, they joined forces to collect donations at the Dirt Derby, an Austin-based mountain bike and cyclocross race series. They offered $3 off race fees to every rider who brought at least two nonperishable food items. Donations from riders and spectators enabled them to collect enough food to fill a small shopping cart.

Your donations on the front lines of hunger:

Food Bank staff are on the road, helping deliver emergency food boxes to arriving families in Austin.

Karla Cantu, Agency Relations Director, reports her experience today:

Glenda (Vice President, Community Programs) and I just took water, snacks, diapers and other paper products to Small Middle School. Small Middle School is housing 200 evacuees with 200 more being sent from Crocket High School. Small has a capacity of 415 people which they will meet with the new arrivals.

There were many small babies and disabled. The school, city officials and a Red Cross individual were all doing a great job, and they were very grateful for the water and granola bars. It was evident our help came just in time. We’ll have to come back for additional diapers, adult diapers, water and other items since they quickly went through what we took.

The picture of the family with the small baby is Tyrone, Adanisha and one month old Dizmond who traveled from Galveston. The other baby is Angel Ortiz with his father Uzziel, they also traveled from Galveston.

 

Thank you, 501 Tech Club, Social Media Club Austin, Stalelife, Adomatica, Whole Foods and the social media community, for helping us with disaster relief.

Please continue to visit www.austinfoodbank.org for information on how to help, and how to get help for disaster relief.

HAM-up Update: Postponed Due to Hurricane Ike

If you haven’t heard the news, there’s a hurricane coming to Texas this weekend.

The Food Bank is now in full disaster relief mode to aid those affected by Hurricane Ike.

The “HAM-up Tweet-Up” scheduled for Saturday, the Food Drive bike ride, plus all volunteer shifts have been postponed.

We will still have the HAM-up Grill up this evening at Whole Foods downtown. Please join us.

We believe this is the best decision for everyone’s safety and the allocation of resources.

Donations will still be accepted at the Food Bank through Sunday to collect specific emergency items for Hurricane Ike relief.

Five items requested:
1) bottled water
2) granola bars
3) canned meats (pop-top lids)
4) peanut butter
5) diapers

Bring donations to the Capital Area Food Bank, 8201 South Congress Avenue (between William Cannon & Slaughter Lane).

If you cannot donate items in person, please donate online and specify the donation go to Hurricane Ike relief.

If you, or someone you know needs emergency food assistance, please visit our Hurricane Ike “I need help” page. We will continue to update this page throughout the coming days as we work with agencies in Central Texas.

Thank you and stay safe.

“Hunger is Unacceptable” Photo of the Week

This week, we’ve hit a new milestone in our grassroots advocacy campaign. More than 100 photos were added to our flickr group. Thank you, Central Texas, for your support!

There’s never been a shortage of creativity in Austin. This week’s pictures showcase two unique interpretations of our “Hunger is Unacceptable” campaign.

David Neff, aka co-brainchild of the first Austin Blood Drive Tweet-up, aka nonprofit social media maven for the Austin chapter of the American Cancer Society, is helping us organize our HAM-up Tweet-up September, 13. You’ll notice he changed his avatar on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the many places you would usually find his smiling face online. Those who contact him about his intriguing avatar then learn more about this upcoming event benefitting the Food Bank. Genius!

David Neff

“Camille” by artist, James H. Johnson 1987 is from the collection of Trevoris Morgan, Round Rock, TX. Trevoris, a long time supporter and collector of Central Texas folk art, sent us this moving photo.

From the Trevoris Morgan personal collection - Round Rock, TX

The lines are long for too long.

Providing statistics on hunger and food insecurity is not enough to convince people that the hungry live among us. I’m reminded about a famous quote from then-governor, George W. Bush when he was given grim statistics about Texas hunger and food insecurity. His response:

“I saw the report that children in Texas are going hungry. Where? You’d think the governor would have heard if there are pockets of hunger in Texas.”
— George W. Bush whose state ranks 2nd in total number of children living in poverty 12/18/99.

Sadly, the statistics haven’t changed much since 1999. Texas still ranks third highest in food insecurity, and tied for first in the nation in childhood food insecurity. Several times a week, working families stand in line, sometimes in the hot sun, or pouring rain to receive food through one of our distributions around Central Texas.

Today's FFFF distribution helped nourish more than 100 South Austin families.

At today’s Fresh Food for Families (FFFF) distribution in South Austin, we provided fresh peaches, potatoes, red onions, sweet potatoes and an assortment of bread and tortillas. Luckily, the rain stayed away for the afternoon, and all guests took home ample amounts of fresh food.

One in four Texas children is food insecure.

Some of the guests were gracious enough to allow us to take a few pictures so we can share with you the face of hunger. Yes, hunger does exist in Central Texas, and the lines are long. Too long.

We couldn’t continue to provide this service without the support of community volunteers, donations from local grocery stores and financial donations allowing us to provide fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables.

“Hunger is Unacceptable” Photos of the Week

Austin’s The Biscuit Brothers are hailed for their toe-tappin’ ways of encouraging children to “Go Make Music” on their award-winning weekly KLRU show.

Well, children’s music education isn’t the only cause they advocate for. They’ve added their faces to our “Hunger is Unacceptable” campaign.

Buford and Dusty

Buttermilk and Tiny Scarecrow

Boy, this campaign has legs!

Our local FOX station was so inspired by our campaign phrase that they incorporated it in this great video to help our fundraising efforts. Talk about taking action! Thank you, FOX 7.

“Hunger is Unacceptable” Photos of the Week

Thank you Central Texas! In the past week, you’ve amazed us with your creativity. With such a great first week response, we’ve decided to pick two photos that we find inspiring, and that truly communicate the spirit of the campaign. One photo is of a hunger advocate, and one is client in need of food.

This week’s client photo was submitted by CAFB’s Agency Relations Director, Karla Cantu. Karla took this photo at Austin Baptist Chapel, one of our 350+ Partner Agencies directly serving the hungry. One of two soup kitchens in downtown Austin, Austin Baptist Chapel serves between 300 and 400 meals at lunch each day. And yes, they make a tasty soup! If you’re looking for an afternoon of volunteering in central Austin, check them out. With lines often wrapping around the building, they can surely use the help.

Our hunger advocate photo of the week comes from Cirstan Hobbs, owner of Scarlet Red Salon. Hairstylist to Georgetown’s fashionistas, Cirstan is known for thinking outside the box, or in this case, the cardboard box. Friend and in-house tattoo artist, Aaron, “tattoos” her sign where she knows it can hurt the most to be hungry. (Yes, it’s fake).

So, keep those signs coming. We love to see your passion.

Join the “Hunger is Unacceptable” Campaign

If you’ve followed David’s Food Stamp Challenge posts and final call-to-action, you may have seen this one coming.

We believe that everyone should have access to sufficient healthy food. In order to end hunger and food insecurity, the priorities and consciousness of our community must shift. We must, as a community, believe that hunger is unacceptable.

Well, here’s an easy way to get started. Join us, with one voice, and tell Central Texas that “hunger is unacceptable.”

Join the Campaign

1. Send us your photo.

Send a photo of you holding your “Hunger is Unacceptable” sign. Use cardboard, paper, fabric… whatever material you’d like. Take the photo by yourself, with your family, with your dog, at your favorite landmark, or even in your front yard – whatever you’d like.

Upload the photo directly to our Flickr group.
How to upload a photo or video to this group:

Upload the photos or video to your own Flickr photostream. Flickr gives you lots of ways to do this: www.flickr.com/tools.

Go to the Organizr, click on the “Your Groups” tab up the top, which will open to show you a list of all your groups. Just drag and drop the things you want to share on to the group!

Or, upload your photo at our hunger is unacceptable web page.

We’ll post a photo gallery on our website, flickr album, facebook page, YouTube and other social media sites.

2. Join the hunger petition.

The most powerful message you can send to your legislative representatives is a hand-written letter. You can also drop off your sign at the Food Bank, or mail us your sign (8201 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78745). Please write your name and full address on the back of your sign so your legislative representatives know you’re located in Central Texas, and sign it.

On September 30, the last day of Hunger Action Month, we’ll “take action” and deliver your signs to the legislative body at the Capitol in Austin.

3. Pass it on & stay informed.

Stay informed by joining the CAFB Community. We’ll give you updates about the campaign, and ways to take action during Hunger Action Month in September.

Tell your friends about the campaign using your social networks online like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter and more. Or just do it the old fashioned way in person or by phone.

Privacy Information

We respect your privacy. Just because you send us your photo via email, or mail us your sign, doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be signed up to our enewsletter or receive letters from us in your mailbox. But we think you’ll like what we have to say, so why not give us a try and sign up online at http://www.austinfoodbank.org. You can always unsubscribe at any time.