Get Involved - has information about a number of ways that you can learn about and join efforts to end hunger: through donations, volunteer work, advocacy, public education, or a unique community-based method of finding and linking the unique skills of local community residents (Asset-Based Community Development).

Acknowledgements

This study could not have been completed without the support and assistance of many community agencies and volunteers. The Sacramento Regional Foundation provided financial support for the initial phase of the study. California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation staff was available for technical assistance throughout the study. The University of California Cooperative Extension gave extensive support by providing surveys, training interviewers and compiling the data from the surveys.

Special recognition is due for the Action Subcommittee of the Hunger Study Group. This subcommittee explored ways to link food service businesses, i.e., restaurants and caterers, with emergency food providers to distribute unused food from the restaurants and catered events. Legalities and logistics were studied and documented. The result was a listing and a map of the feeding sites, as well as contact information. This information was printed and mailed out with the California Restaurant Association newsletter encouraging members to participate in redistributing surplus food. This information can be updated periodically.

The group also created a one-page poster of available services called the Community Food Guide. This flyer, designed for the person needing assistance, lists available sources of public assistance, emergency aid and the names of public officials to contact if they run into difficulties. This poster can be reproduced and used at service sites or made small enough for personal use.

Thanks to Patti Whitney-Wise who provided the inspiration for the study and the drive to get it done. Thanks also to the many volunteer agencies in Sacramento which participated in the study and which every day furnish food and support to the hungry in Sacramento.

Photographs: The Sacramento Bee; Sacramento Food Bank; Glen Ernst, photographer; Senior Gleaners. Printing provided by Fruitridge Printers and Sacramento Food Bank. Cover design and illustration, Marquez-Hardy Design.

[Top]