 |
||
Kids Read for the Record to Help Bridge Literacy Achievement GapOn October 2, hundreds of thousands of children across the country will come together at libraries, schools, and community centers to read Don Freeman’s beloved Corduroy as part of Jumpstart's annual Read for the Record campaign. Read for the Record brings attention to the importance of early education and reading skills for at-risk pre-schoolers. According to Jumpstart, a national organization working to build literacy, language, social, and initiative skills in young children, “Due in part to their limited access to books, as many as one-third of America’s children arrive at their first day of school unprepared to learn. As a result, language acquisition and literacy skills are lacking.” Last year, 258,000 children nationwide read The Story of Ferdinand, not only breaking a world record for the most children reading a book with an adult on the same day, but also raising more than $1 million to support Jumpstart's early education programs. Sodexo and Jumpstart Supporting Jumpstart exemplifies the Foundation’s commitment to eliminating hunger by fighting its root causes. Jumpstart’s mission of improving early education for disadvantaged pre-schoolers can eliminate the achievement gap between rich and poor children and break the cycle of poverty. Take Action Where the Candidates Stand on Hunger
To learn where the candidates stand on issues of hunger and its root causes, visit their web sites: John McCain | Barack Obama Contact the candidates to let them know how important the issue of hunger is to you: John McCain | Barack Obama Poll: Struggling Low-Wage Workers Balance Hope, FearEven during hard times, the pull of the American dream is strong. As low-wage workers struggle to pay their bills and stay out of poverty they continue to expect better for themselves and their children. That’s a key finding in a recent survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , and Harvard University. The nationwide poll asked low-wage workers a series of questions about the economy, their own financial security, and their hopes for the future. The 1,350 respondents are a representative sampling of the close to 25% of U.S. adults who earn less than $27,000. The picture that emerges from the survey is one of workers trying to balance their hope for a more secure future with their fear of slipping into poverty as the economy falters. Following is a summary of survey responses. Download the full statistical results of the survey (PDF) Summary of Survey Responses
Many of the survey respondents said they were becoming more resourceful to make up for lost income, from clipping coupons and buying a clothesline to carpooling and reducing energy use. Others had taken more drastic measures, including cashing in their life insurance, shoplifting, and pawning their possessions. Learn More
Sodexo Foundation Launches New Web Site
Visit www.SodexoFoundation.org today! Share this re-designed web site with a friend. Inflation Races Ahead of Food Stamp BenefitsThis year’s “perfect storm” of spiking food costs, continued job losses, and rising gas prices have touched all Americans, but low-income families have been particularly hurt. Not surprisingly, food stamp enrollment has reached near-record levels,1 with more than 40 states reporting increases in recipients.2 But with the cost of basic “food basket” items like milk, eggs, bread, and chicken increasing at the highest rate, Food Stamp benefits are not keeping up with inflation. As reported by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the inflation adjustment for food stamp benefits is “based on lagged data that are four months old at the beginning of the fiscal year and 15 months out of date by the end of the fiscal year… As a result, in every month of fiscal year 2008, as food prices have climbed, food stamp benefits have been inadequate to enable households to purchase the Thrifty Food Plan [the Department of Agriculture’s lowest-cost nutritionally adequate diet plan].”3 The Center notes that, “Even if food inflation is only half as high next year as it was this year, by Christmas food stamp benefits will fall about $10 behind the monthly cost of USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan for a family of four, and by the spring, a family of four’s benefits will fall more than $20 short. If food inflation next year equals this year’s levels, the shortfalls will be twice as large.” While the recently enacted Farm Bill will increase food stamp benefits for about half of all recipients by $1 to $5 a month in 2009, the Bill “does not address the increased cost of food over the fiscal year if food inflation proves to be high again next year and will not help many of the poorest families who struggle the most to afford sufficient food,” concludes the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 1 Congressional Budget Office projection, March 2008 2 As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record, New York Times, March 31, 2008, Erik Eckholm 3 Food Stamp Inflation Adjustment Lags, Resulting in Inadequate Benefits, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 2008 Article ArchivesSTOP Hunger eZine Issues Vol. 3 Issue 5: STOP Hunger eZine - September 2008 |
September 2008 – Volume 3/Issue 5
In this issue: Sodexo Foundation and Share Our Strength
How many times a day does the average American child say, “Mom, I’m hungry”? For most families, that plaintive cry is quickly stopped with a snack or a meal. But for the more than 12.6 million children at risk of hunger, food may be much harder to come by. Childhood hunger affects one in every six children in the United States. One of the organizations on the front lines of fighting this national problem is Share Our Strength, a longtime Sodexo Foundation grant recipient. Share Our Strength (SOS) brings together community groups, activists, and food programs to identify children at risk of hunger and provide them with nutritious food at home, school, and play. Ardent “foodies” may recognize Share Our Strength from its pioneering culinary events like Taste of the Nation® and the Great American Dine Out™. Since its founding in 1984, SOS has raised over $200 million through these and other events and programs and dispersed those funds to more than 1,000 hunger-relief organizations worldwide. Sodexo and SOS Sodexo Foundation Participation
Local/National Sodexo Participation
Take Action
|
|
And then there were two. When we first covered the U.S. presidential hopefuls’ positions on hunger and poverty in 
