Coalition maps spotlighted by Tech Soup

Tech Soup, a technology website for nonprofit organizations, has published a feature story on the New York City Coalition Against Hunger's mapping operations. The interactive maps, which use Google Maps as a framework, show the location of emergency food programs in the five boroughs of New York City.

Controversy over Congressman’s support of food bill

U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns, who represents parts of Brooklyn, has come under fire for his sponsorship of the National Uniformity in Food Act. The bill, which passed the House Mar. 9, would impose uniform labelling standards. Its opponents include consumer organizations and some state Democrats. Supporters, however, hailed the bill as a victory for consumers.

Demand for emergency food up in United States

Nationally, the demand for emergency food has increased by 8 percent in the past five years, according to a study by America’s Second Harvest. More than 25 million Americans now receive some sort of emergency food at soup kitchens or food pantries.

Coalition joins advocates, Episcopal Church in calling for state $$ increase

Thursday, March 16, 2006, marked the 16th annual Hunger Awareness Day in New York State. In honor of the day, the Coalition Against Hunger, the Hunger Action Network, Feed the Solution and Episcopal emergency food program staff, clients and clergy called upon the New York State Legislature to increase funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP). HPNAP is the main source of state funding for food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries, and food rescue organizations. Governor George Pataki’s budget proposal would leave food pantries and soup kitchens statewide with two million dollars less in HPNAP funding than at its peak level four years ago, even though the number of people served by such agencies has skyrocketed during the same time period.

New data from City shows sharp hike in pantry and kitchen use

Charitable soup kitchens and food pantries that receive some funding from the City of New York provided 172,840 more meals in 2005 than in 2004, according to the first-ever release by the City of two full calendar years worth of such statistics. During the same two year time period, participation in the federally funded Food Stamp Program in the city increased by 141,916-people, providing low-income families with an estimated $170 million in additional federal nutrition assistance. According to Coalition Against Hunger Executive Director Joel Berg, “The only good news is that participation in the Food Stamp Program continues to climb somewhat, providing hungry families much more food than they would be otherwise able to obtain from pantries and kitchens. But as long as pantry and kitchen use continues to soar, our collective work is clearly cut out for us.”