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Sacramento Hunger Commission: July 2004 Minutes

  1. Tour of Elk Grove Food Bank Services: Commissioners met outside of the Elk Grove Food Bank Services to get a tour of the food closet. Executive Director Steve Caruso spoke briefly about its history, and how it is open 6 days a week. Steve introduced his staff Crystal, who does a great job running the operation on a day-to-day basis, and Joe, who does all of the heavy lifting. The food closet, run out of a small trailer, provides a box of food based on the number of people in each needy family. They serve zip codes south of Gerber Road and the Valley Hi area. Identification and proof of residence are required to receive food. Most of their clients are working poor, but they sometimes provide food for homeless individuals as well. Five commissioners took the food closet Hunger Challenge by taking a box that has enough food to feed 2 people for 3 days.
  2. Meeting called to order by Richard Schroeder, Chair.
  3. May and June minutes were approved.
  4. Three Challenges- discussion of experiences trying to eat for 3 days:
    • From a box of food from a food closet
      All three challenges have been done. To date Laurie Green is the only commissioner to complete the food closet challenge. Laurie said that "it was a good balance [of food]", and she was essentially able to eat from the box for 3 days. She was surprised by how much food they gave away in the box, but ended up with less than a normal family would because of allergies. She suggests offering an insert on how to cook dry goods like beans, rice and oatmeal that are often given out. Nina Nelson noted that the Sierra Arden Food Closet already does this. Peggy Roark said that the Hunger Commission could put these simple directions on our www.targethunger.com web site in the Emergency Food section. The 5 commissioners that received boxes were reminded to email Peggy the write-up of their experiences, including if possible details of what they actually ate for each meal for the three days.
    • On the maximum amount provided by the Food Stamp Program ($14.10 for 3 days)
      So far Kay Schlegel, Jake Salcone and Peggy Roark have completed this challenge. Peggy said that it was possible, but certainly not much fun. The point of all the Challenges is not to succeed, but to document what the experience is like.
    • From the local food shed
      Cindy Nelson and Judie Wilson have both attempted this challenge. Judie has just completed a good write up about her experiences that was shared with the Commission.
    • Next steps?
      Suggestions included putting the experiences into a journal and/or into a brochure to accompany the Hunger Hits Home study; it might be called Hungry For Three Days. Another idea was to have the Hunger Challenge ongoing and encourage people beyond the Commission, such as local and state policymakers, the media, community leaders etc., to take one of the challenges.
  5. Next steps re Strategic Planning The Cathedral Building task force has found a facilitator from Lincoln Crow who will work pro bono to help with HC strategic planning. The next step is to form a Strategic Planning group. Richard Schroeder, Ryan Dulin, Franklin Anderson, Janet Talsky, Chi Cheng, Bill Maynard, Nina Nelson, Cindy Nelson and Steve Caruso volunteered to be in the group. If others are interested in being part of the Strategic Planning group please let Steve Caruso know. Richard thanked the Cathedral Building group for their good work.
  6. Policy update
    • After a long wait, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 was signed by the president June 30th 2004. A handout was distributed with some of the key elements in the Act, including the somewhat controversial issue of "WIC-Only stores". The law now provides vendor management cost containment for WIC-Only stores in order to eventually reduce higher prices charged by many of these stores, which, if unaddressed, could hurt financial resources and therefore force WIC to serve fewer participants. Janet Talsky and Laurie Green acknowledged that reality but also noted that WIC-Only stores often provide WIC clients much better customer service. There are about 5 WIC-Only stores in the Sacramento area, and many more in southern California.
    • Food Stamp bills from the California Hunger Action Coalition (CHAC) agenda: Steinberg's Finger Imaging bill, AB 2013, had some very strong opposition and did not pass. Still alive is AB 1796, the "drug felon" bill, which has been amended. These bills would both allow the Food Stamp Program to serve more individuals in need.
    • The Hunger Commission is still planning to bring the Food Charter to the County Board of Supervisors. However the version of the Charter that would have been introduced at a June Board meeting did not include any of the action steps. One or more Supervisors apparently felt that the County would be obligated by the wording of the Charter to support things that they do not necessarily want or feel they could afford to support. The next step is to meet with the Supervisors' Chiefs of Staff, and possibly with individual Supervisors to better understand their concerns. Then, hopefully, the Charter can move forward.
  7. Sacramento Food Summit update
    "The Food Summit planning group is poised and ready to move", said commissioner Juan Yniguez. There is a meeting Wednesday, July 21st to rethink the October 7th date because of insufficient time to plan a full Summit. Juan thinks that a smaller-scale workshop could be held instead on October 7, with a full-scale Summit later.
  8. Announcements/brief reports/ideas
    Tanya Kaplow— announced that there will be a Health Fair sponsored by the Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church on August 14th at William Land Park from 10am to 2pm. The Hunger Commission needs at least 2 volunteers to help out because the Commission will be in charge of 2 tables, a regular HC table, and a Food Stamp table where applications will be available. Peggy Roark—
    • There will be no Hunger Commission meeting in August, but other group meetings will continue through the month as usual.
    • The Hunger Commission will be receiving another grant from the California Nutrition Network for $50,000 for one year in order to solidify and expand the Edible Landscaping project.
    • The annual CROP WALK is Sunday, October 17th. There is a kick off potluck Sunday, August 29th from 4 -7 pm at the Westminster Presbyterian Church (1300 N).

    Steve Caruso— The annual Elk Grove Food Bank Services dinner is on Saturday, September 25th in the evening. He invited the Hunger Commission to have an information table at the dinner.

    Ryan Dulin— shared the proofs of the Hunger Commission business cards. The cost is $27 for 1,000 cards. We will also be getting 1000 generic cards (with no printed names) for Commissioners who would like some. E-mail Peggy if interested.

    Jake Salcone—
    • Has replaced the edible landscaping trees that were stolen. He is in the process of putting up placards that describe what the tree will produce. He is need of 1x 6” lumber to use for the placards.
    • An international journalism team will be visiting the Kennedy Estates Edible Landscaping Project in September. They are touring the U.S. to learn about American volunteer projects. They will interview Jake and Kennedy Estates residents who work with edible landscaping.

    Richard Schroeder— has 4 rooms full of “Pots and Pans” donations stored at Mather. We need to distribute them!

    Russell Medeiros— announced that Infoline has received 600 calls for Summer Food, 13.5% up from last year.

Meeting was adjourned at 1:15 pm.

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