Who We Are - has information on the Sacramento Hunger Commission including the latest monthly agenda, meeting minutes and a profile of the 25 member all volunteer commission.

Sacramento Hunger Commission: May 2003 Minutes

1. The meeting was called to order by Kevin Bond, Chair.
2. April Minutes approved M/S. (Eghigian/Anderson)
3. Reports and announcements
   • Hands on Sacramento Day--Peggy Roark, staff, requested that Commissioners interested in joining the Commission team on May 31 at Jedediah Smith Elementary's school garden contact her.
   • Hunger Action Day-Commissioners David Quackenbush, Ernie Brown, Diana Maffei, and Sharon Eghigian, with Kim Wade reported on the successes and challenges of Hunger Action Day at the Capitol on May 12. Commissioners and staff visited legislative staff including those of Senator Ortiz, Ass. Steinberg, and Senator Cox. Commissioners and Ms. Wade recommended that constituents of conservative assembly members, particularly Cox and Nakanishi, write letters of support for ending finger imaging and passing Steinberg's bill AB231. Peggy Roark, staff, thanked all the Commissioners who helped with Hunger Action Day, including Alicia Oldfield and Thelma Clark (for Lisa Tadlock).
   • SETA Hearings-Judie Wilson, Commissioner, described the Commission's participation in SETA's public hearing on unmet community needs and Community Services Block Grant funding priorities on May 14. Ms. Wilson and Mr. Quackenbush testified on behalf of Home Delivered Meals. Bill Maynard, Commissioner, testified on the need for community gardens.
     County Board of Supervisors Hearings-Ms. Wilson and Rebecca Fuller, Commissioner, reported on the serious budget situation described at the hearings on May 14. Significant cuts in county programs and staff are expected. Judie Wilson and Diana Maffei testified on behalf of the Commission for the Home Delivered Meal Program of Senior Nutrition Services (SNS). Kim Wade suggested that Commissioners write letters to the editor of the Sacramento Bee. Ms Roark has letterhead for Commissioners interested in sending letters on Commission letterhead.
   • Policy Update-Ms. Eghigian, Commissioner, reported on the status of bills connected to Hunger Action Day.
   • Other Announcements-Juan Yniguez, Commissioner, reported that he will try to get the proposed relationship between the Hunger Commission/CSPC and the Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition on the CSPC Board's June meeting agenda.. Mr. Brown, Commissioner, announced a grand opening event for Senior Gleaners' new facility at 1951 Bell Ave on June 29th.
4. Neighborhood Outreach Project-Ms. Oldfield, Commissioner, presented the outreach tool designed by Nina Nelson, Commissioner and herself. The flyers will provide information on food resources by neighborhood. Ms. Oldfield asked commissioners to sign up for an area.
5. Summer Food Program 2003-Ms. Wilson, Shana McDavis-Conway, staff, and Lisa Tadlock, Commissioner, presented information on the Summer Food program in Sacramento and the Commission's outreach campaign. Ms. Tadlock showed a video, produced by Cal-Neva, on the Summer Food program. Ms. Wilson described ideas for the upcoming Media Day/ Leaders Serving Lunch event, and Ms. McDavis-Conway reported on her successful visits with Commissioners to City Council member Hammond, and also staff to Tretheway, Cohn, Yee, Jones, Waters and Pannell. Many suggestions for new sites came out of these visits. Summer Food outreach materials including posters (in multiple languages), flyers, bookmarks and temporary tattoos have been distributed and are available for free.
6. Garden Presentation Part II: School Gardens and "Chef Rio" in the Rio Linda School District-John Baggett, Peggy Cook, and Jill Van Dyke gave a power point presentation on the garden program and related "Chef Rio" curriculum in the Rio Linda School District. Rio Linda is a mostly low-income district with 21 schools and 10,000 students in Rio Linda, North Highlands and Foothill Farms. In three of its schools 90% of the students are eligible for Free and Reduced Price Meals. All schools offer breakfast. Rio Linda's innovative garden program (including a wheat garden and accompanying bread-making project) has been very successful. They received a $7000 grant to start gardens at seven schools, which included a small stipend of $250 for each school's "garden liaison." Long-term sustainability, as always, will be an issue.
   • Rio Linda's Food Services department has developed a Chef Rio program with a cooking cart to bring nutrition education into the classroom and integrate gardens and good eating habits with the school curriculum. Food Services also provides a regular Health Connections newsletter to parents. At schools with a salad bar, which sometimes uses food from the school's garden, over 67 percent of students choose the salad bar.
7. Due to lack of time, the Action Item to approve the revised Hunger Commission bylaws was postponed to the June meeting.
8. The meeting was adjourned by Kevin Bond, Chair.
   
   

[Top]