Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger

Last updated
Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
TypeNon-profit
Founded1996
Headquarters Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Key people
Laura Wall, (executive director)
Website www.hungercoalition.org

The Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger (GPCAH) is a support organization for residents in the Greater Philadelphia region founded in 1996. Its mission is connecting people with food assistance programs including, SNAP benefits, food banks, soup kitchens and "to build a community where all people have the food they need to lead healthy lives". [1]

Contents

History

The Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger was founded in 1996 as an organization which can help network people to food, shelter and connections with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In 2019 Alyssa Bradley, advocacy and communications associate stated "we are working to help out in a couple of different ways. We are helping folks sign up for SNAP benefits if they do qualify". [2] Kathy Fisher, policy director wants to eradicated the stigma that views food stamps users as "freeloaders". [3]

During the 2018 "Eaglesgiving" event, Laura Wall, executive director of the GPCAH, worked with the Philadelphia Eagles to assist in selecting the Feast of Justice. She was impressed with the effort the Eagles put into the event. [4]

In 2019, the United States federal government shutdown delayed SNAP benefits from being received prompting phone calls from SNAP recipients to GPCAH. [5] The organization worked "to connect government workers affected by the shutdown with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits". [2]

Stroehmann Walk + Run Against Hunger

The Coalition organizes the annual Stroehmann Walk+Run Against Hunger, which is a 5K race held in April that raises funds for more than 100 food pantries, soup kitchens and hunger-relief agencies in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. [6]

The Walk+Run Against also benefits the region's leading hunger-relief agencies, including the Coalition Against Hunger, The Food Trust, SHARE Food Program and Philabundance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger</span> Sustained inability to eat sufficient food

In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</span> United States government food assistance program

In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, administered by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by specific departments of U.S. states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic benefit transfer</span> Form of U.S. state assistance

Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that allows state welfare departments to issue benefits via a magnetically encoded payment card used in the United States. It reached nationwide operations in 2004. The average monthly EBT payout is $125 per participant.

Food and Nutrition Service U.S. federal anti-hunger agency

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The FNS is the federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs. The service helps to address the issue of hunger in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food bank</span> Non-profit, charitable organization that gives out food

A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food directly with their own food pantries.

Food politics is a term which encompasses not only food policy and legislation, but all aspects of the production, control, regulation, inspection, distribution and consumption of commercially grown, and even sometimes home grown, food. The commercial aspects of food production are affected by ethical, cultural, and health concerns, as well as environmental concerns about farming and agricultural practices and retailing methods. The term also encompasses biofuels, GMO crops and pesticide use, the international food market, food aid, food security and food sovereignty, obesity, labor practices and immigrant workers, issues of water usage, animal cruelty, and climate change.

Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico (NAP) —Spanish: Programa de Asistencia Nutricional (PAN) popularly known in Puerto Rico as Cupones — is a federal assistance nutritional program provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) solely to Puerto Rico. In 2021, over $2 billion USD was appropriated as a block grant for NAP to assist over 1 million impoverished residents of Puerto Rico. It is based on, though not part of, the USDA's national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which in 2018 provided $64 billion in nutritional assistance to 42 million people in the 50 U.S. states, D.C., Guam and the US Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food stamp challenge</span>

A food stamp challenge or SNAP challenge is a trend in the United States popularized by politicians, religious groups, community activists and food pantries, in which a family of means chooses to purchase food using only the monetary equivalent of what a family that size would receive in the US federal government Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), colloquially called food stamps. In 2015, this amounted to US$194.00 per person per month, or $6.37 per day.

The Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a program that evolved out of surplus commodity donation efforts begun by the USDA in late 1981 to dispose of surplus foods held by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). This program was explicitly authorized by the Congress in 1983 when funding was provided to assist states with the costs involved in storing and distributing the commodities. The program originally was entitled the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program when authorized under the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983. The program is now known as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Hunger Task Force, Inc. is a non-profit, anti-hunger public policy organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hunger Task Force works to end hunger in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin by providing direct food delivery services, and works to end future hunger by advocating for fair and responsible administration of federal nutrition assistance programs.

Philabundance is a non-profit food bank that serves the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the largest such organization in the region.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) is a nonprofit organization, which aims to “enact innovative solutions to help society move ‘beyond the soup kitchen’ to ensure economic and food self-sufficiency for all Americans”. NYCCAH works collaboratively with local, state, and national legislatures as well as New York residents and community associations. In contrast to other organizations, NYCCAH generally does not distribute food but rather concerns itself with providing technical assistance to groups which do while simultaneously affecting hunger policy at a more macro-urban scale.

The Food Trust is a nonprofit organization. It was founded in 1992 by Duane Perry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current Executive Director is Yael Lehmann. The goal of the organization is to improve the health of children and adults by providing better nutrition. The Food Trust works with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers to implement a comprehensive approach to improved food access that combines nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food. It is currently operating 25 farmer's markets in the Philadelphia region. The markets accept SNAP/food stamps, Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers and Philly Food Bucks. The Food Trust is funded by private foundations, government grants, and individual donors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of malnutrition</span> Overview of global nutritional deficiencies

There were 795 million undernourished people in the world in 2014, a decrease of 216 million since 1990, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone—7 billion people—and could feed more than that—12 billion people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger in the United States</span> Food insecurity

Hunger in the United States of America affects millions of Americans, including some who are middle class, or who are in households where all adults are in work. The United States produces far more food than it needs for domestic consumption—hunger within the U.S. is caused by some Americans having insufficient money to buy food for themselves or their families. Additional causes of hunger and food insecurity include neighborhood deprivation and agricultural policy. Hunger is addressed by a mix of public and private food aid provision. Public interventions include changes to agricultural policy, the construction of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods, investment in transportation infrastructure, and the development of community gardens. Private aid is provided by food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food rescue organizations.

CalFresh

CalFresh is the California implementation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program, which provides financial assistance for purchasing food to low-income California residents.

Second Harvest North Florida U.S. nonprofit organization

Second Harvest North Florida (SHNF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Jacksonville, Florida, that performs food rescue and redistribution to partner agencies in one quarter of Florida's 67 counties. The charitable organization has been active for over 30 years.

This article is intended to give an overview of the welfare system in the U.S. State of New York.

La Soupe US nonprofit food rescue organization

La Soupe is a Cincinnati, Ohio, nonprofit organization that uses discarded food to produce meals and delivers them to other nonprofit agencies for distribution to people experiencing food insecurity.

The 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health was a historic first and resulted in landmark legislation. In his opening address on December 2, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon vowed “to put an end to hunger in America…for all time.” The three-day gathering came at the end of a decade of social, cultural, and political change which had resulted in a sudden awareness of the widespread malnutrition and hunger afflicting many poor in the United States. Eight-hundred academics and scientists, business and civic leaders, activists, and politicians developed more than 1,800 recommendations, which were reviewed by the 2,700 conference attendees and delivered in a full report to the President on December 24, 1969. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are among the 1,400 nutrition and food assistance programs and recommendations implemented or improved as a result of the White House Conference. In May 2022, President Joe Biden announced a new White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health which was scheduled to convene on September 28, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

References

  1. "About Us". Coalition Against Hunger. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  2. 1 2 Bulter, Michael (2019-01-22). "Government workers affected by shutdown receive aid from Philly food banks". Metro US. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  3. Lubrano, Alfred (2018-05-26). "Hunger in Philadelphia: 'It's a Pain in My Belly'". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  4. Foley, Graham (2018-11-22). "An 'Eaglesgiving' To Put Things In Perspective". philadelphiaeagles.com. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  5. Lubrano, Alfred (16 January 2019). "Because of shutdown, February food stamps disbursed on Wednesday". philly.com. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  6. Hong, Albert (2017-04-03). "How Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger finds corporate sponsors for its fundraising events". Generocity Philly. Retrieved 31 January 2019.