In the News

No Kid Hungry: Join Us and Take the Pledge.

As many of our readers know, we at C&H Sugar are big supporters of Share Our Strength® and its goal of ending childhood hunger in America by 2015. We believe it's unacceptable that one in four children in our country does not have regular access to good, healthful food. Naturally, we wanted to tell you about a new opportunity to get involved in this important effort: Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry™ Campaign.
No Kid Hungry asks you to do just one simple thing: take a pledge to end child hunger. Why a pledge? Because a pledge is a public declaration of your willingness to help build awareness, gain support, and get involved. And because pledging makes you part of a growing community that has the potential to become a powerful army. You'll be joining Academy Award–winning actor Jeff Bridges, whose work for Share Our Strength includes a public service announcement now airing on Food Network.
Share Our Strength believes that everyone has a strength to share, and at NoKidHungry.org/ActNow you'll find a number of ways in which you can put yours to good use. Some are simple, like sharing your reasons for taking the pledge. Some are festive, like attending Share Our Strength's culinary fundraising events throughout the year: Taste of the Nation, Great American Dine Out, and A Tasteful Pursuit. Some are community based, like local volunteering opportunities and public-advocacy efforts. One especially fun way to get involved is by hosting a bake sale as part of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale®, presented by C&H Sugar and Domino Sugar. Each opportunity lists an "estimated time to complete" so you can get involved at whatever commitment level that works for you.
Funds raised in a community are invested right back into that community through state and local partnerships that connect kids to programs that can help them get the healthy food they need. Share Our Strength's Cooking Matters™ (formerly called Operation Frontline), is one such investment. Cooking Matters is a hands-on program that teaches families how to prepare tasty, healthful, and affordable meals. You can read more about chef-volunteer Claudia Ossa's experience teaching a Cooking Matters class in our Baker's Profile.
Last November the U.S. Department of Agriculture published updated statistics on food security—defined as having access to enough food for a healthy, active life. The numbers were sobering: 14.7 percent of Americans were "food insecure" at some time during 2009, meaning that they had trouble putting enough nutritious food on the table at some point during the year. "These food insecurity figures portray a dire situation in which a record level of children in America, more than 17 million, struggle with hunger," says Share Our Strength's executive director, Bill Shore. "These children need access to nutritious food if they are going to develop to their full potential."
At the time of this posting, almost 20,000 people had taken the pledge. We hope you'll join them in the fight to eliminate childhood hunger in America by 2015!