Report on Hungry in Washington by Children's Alliance

Children's Alliance released their Hungry in Washington 2010 on November 16th.

More than 367,000 households in Washington struggled to put food on the table in 2009, according to the most recent report on food security in America released November 15, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service.

To access and read the entire report, click here.

Energize Nutrition Newsletter Focuses on Emergency Food Providers

This month's edition of Energize Newsletter, a Newsletter for Nutrition Educators, focused on the role of NGOs and Food Assistance.

Key Players in Direct Service to Food Banks – In Washington State, several non- profit organizations collect and distribute food to food banks and other centers that provide food to hungry families and individuals. Although the organizations aim to provide direct service, most of them also advocate for anti-hunger efforts, hold fundraising events, and place an increasing emphasis on nutrition.

You can download the newsletter and read more by clicking here.

Governor's Office conference call invitation

A Message from Governor Gregoire's Office

Friends,

Building on her Transforming Washington's Budget process, Governor Gregoire has asked me to make information available to stakeholders and other interested parties about the supplemental and biennial budget preparation process. We hope to reach as many people as are interested in the process so that Washington citizens and organizations can fully inform themselves about the process.

To that end, I will convene a series of conference calls over the lunch hour on upcoming Mondays, starting Monday, November 15th at noon. Calls will last 30 minutes. Topics will vary slightly with each call, but all will relate to the budget development process.

I will ask another member of Governor Gregoire's Senior Staff to co-host each call with me. Chief of Staff Jay Manning will join the first call. Jay and I will discuss the economic context in which Governor Gregoire is implementing the across the board cuts that began in October, as well as the supplemental and biennial budgets that are being developed.

Instructions for connecting to the call are below. I very much hope that you can join us.

Conference call instructions -

This will be a web-based conference call. Q&A will be allowed, so if you have a question during the call you can press *6 and we will be notified through the Q&A queue that there is a question.

Conference dial-in number: (323) 843-0075

Participant access code: 757557

All the best,
Marty

Marty Loesch

Director of External Affairs and Senior Counsel

Office of Governor Gregoire

360.902.0499

Learn more about...Community Gardens

Here are some tips and tricks that were collected at the annual Food Security Coalition Conference 2010:

Often times, the ultimate goal/purpose end up being community building rather than garden building.

Tactics to encourage rural communities:

• Rural garden development is uniquely different than urban: rural has resource they might not realize; once it's started in rural, it continues with little effort
• Give people a list of resources/needs that it takes to start a garden
• Invite them to try it out
• Visit other gardens
• Work on barrier elimination

Tips for sustainability after grant is gone

• Partner with local grocery stores
• Partner with local farmer's markets

Best Practices for community gardens:

• Care for land & care for people
• Have a sign
• Have long-term land tenure
• Gardens need to govern themselves
• Make it a fair place to be
• Cultivate garden leadership
• Create community garden network
• Make a list of items you want people to donate (include big, medium, small, and financial needs)