USDA and the Corporation for National and Community Service mark Thanksgiving With a Call to Service

This week, as families across America prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Obama Administration is asking Americans to think about their neighbors who are struggling to put food on the table. Although we are the richest nation in the world, the food security report released last Monday by USDA’s Economic Research Service indicates that hunger is a serious and growing problem in the United States. In 2008, more than 49 million people, including more than 16 million children, were at risk of going hungry in America, up from 35 million in 2007.

President Obama and Secretary Vilsack have made addressing the issue of hunger in America a high priority of this Administration. For example, the President has committed to ending childhood hunger in this country by 2015. Secretary Vilsack recently stated that “it is time for America to get very serious about food security and hunger.”

In addition to government efforts, however, we must also work together to address the problem in our own communities. The families, children and individuals that worry about where their next meal will come from, or have to skip a few meals, could live right next door to you. Everyone has a role to play. In this spirit, the Corporation for National and Community Service is launching the United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor initiative this week in collaboration with the White House and USDA. The purpose of the initiative is to raise public awareness of hunger issues and ask Americans to help ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritional food this winter and throughout the year.

There are many ways for Americans from all walks of life to help combat hunger through service. Serve.gov allows visitors to search for local volunteer opportunities. In addition, the USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has prepared a volunteer toolkit in conjunction with the Food and Nutrition Service. This toolkit outlines a wide variety of opportunities and resources that can help ordinary people fight hunger in their communities.

You can access the toolkit online here. As we think about everything we are thankful for this week, let us also remember those who are less fortunate, and do what we can to help end hunger in America.

Permalink  |  Posted: 11:14AM Nov 24, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [0]

Secretary Vilsack: Addressing Child Hunger and Improving Health

Today I testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Environment on the important issue of the upcoming reauthorization of the Department’s Child Nutrition Programs. We have a great opportunity right now to combat child hunger and improve the health and nutrition of children across the country, and we cannot let this moment pass us by.

From my first day as the Secretary of Agriculture, President Obama tasked me with improving the health and wellbeing of America’s children. We have made great strides in making progress towards these goals and raising awareness of this important issue - but we can do better. One out of every three children in America is either obese or overweight and our latest data show that over 12% of children ages 2-5 are obese. Moreover, families are struggling to provide their children food to eat. Yesterday we released the 2008 “Household Food Security in the United States” report showing that in over 500,000 families with children in 2008, one or more children simply do not get enough to eat--they had to cut the size of their meals, skip meals, or even go whole days without food at some time during the year.

The report is a wake-up call for us to get serious about food security, hunger and nutrition in this country. This is an incredibly sobering reminder of the challenge we face in confronting hunger and nutrition in the richest nation on earth. We play a critical role in contributing to the health and wellness of our nation’s future. The National School Lunch Program serves 31 million school children in more than 100,000 schools across the country. The School Breakfast Program is available in over 88,000 schools and about 11 million children participate on an average day.

This legislation can improve access by ensuring food programs reach children when and where they need it. The nutritional quality of school meals and the focus on health in schools is equally important. Children consume too many empty calories each day; we can promote more nutritious school meals through competitive grants and offer interim performance bonus programs for schools showing voluntary improvements.

The reauthorization proposal of an additional $10 billion over ten years is a significant opportunity for us to address hunger, obesity and nutrition in one stroke. We are committed to combating hunger and providing healthier foods to our nation’s future through modernized programs. Just as teachers inspire and parents encourage our children, we must embrace this opportunity to provide America’s children with the healthy foods they need to grow and learn.

- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack 

Permalink  |  Posted: 01:12PM Nov 17, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [2]

President Obama and USDA Celebrate National School Lunch Week

This week, we celebrate National School Lunch Week to highlight a program paramount to improving the health and wellbeing our Nation’s children. And it’s an effort receiving this important recognition for good reason…

Did you know the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free and reduced-price lunches and snacks to more than 31 million students each school day?   NSLP meals are designed to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and in some cases represents a needy child’s primary meal.  

President Obama and Secretary Vilsack believe that in our country, it is unacceptable for anyone, particularly our children, to go hungry.  We are committed to not only improving the nutritional quality of school meals, but also to ending childhood hunger by 2015.  USDA’s 15 nutrition assistance programs, especially the school lunch program, make significant contributions to ending childhood hunger. 

National School Lunch Week was established in 1963 by Presidential Proclamation to raise awareness and support for the National School Lunch Program and the critical nutrition service it provides. 

Read President Obama’s National School Lunch Week proclamation for more about his commitment to our nation’s children. 

Permalink  |  Posted: 08:20AM Oct 14, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [1]

Secretary Vilsack meets with Jewish leaders to talk about fighting hunger

On Monday, September 14, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack had the opportunity to meet with 25 leaders of the Jewish community in America including representatives from the Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform traditions, as well as national service organizations. The meeting was a wonderful occasion for the Secretary to further President Obama’s efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and cooperation. Equally importantly, the meeting marked a continuation of USDA’s efforts to involve broad constituencies of individuals and organizations to meet the President’s goal of ending child hunger in America by 2015.

Secretary Vilsack spoke to the gathering about USDA’s commitment to feed hungry people at home and abroad. The Secretary told the assembled leaders that he and President Obama believe that collaborating with faith-based groups, among others, makes sense in pursuing this goal, as all faiths are instructed to care for the poor and the hungry. In the Jewish tradition, the laws of Moses demand compassion and justice for those who are in need, including not harvesting part of one’s fields to allow those who need to glean the crops in order to eat. Secretary Vilsack also stated that he and President Obama are both committed to ending childhood hunger in our country by 2015, but that the government alone cannot make that happen. As the President put it, “we all have to work together - Christian and Jew, Hindu and Muslim; believer and non-believer alike - to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

Following the Secretary’s remarks, the assembled leaders engaged in discussion with Secretary Vilsack on how the Jewish community can work with USDA to address the challenge of domestic and worldwide hunger. The conversation was both thoughtful and substantive, and attendees afterwards expressed deep appreciation for the Secretary’s interfaith outreach efforts.

As the meeting came to a close, the Secretary presented each attendee with an apple and a jar of honey (both provided by our own Agricultural Research Service), in celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Traditionally Jews eat these foods during this holy time as a symbol of a sweet new year.

At USDA, we’re proud of our history engaging broad constituencies in our work, and we look forward to continuing to reach out to Americans from all faiths and walks of life as we work to end hunger in our country and around the world.

Permalink  |  Posted: 12:56PM Sep 21, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [0]