This past Tuesday, several members of our Childhood Hunger Programs team attended the 2016 Child Hunger Summit in Sarasota where over 330 participants gathered for the day.
The summit was organized by All Faiths Food Bank, a member of Feeding America, and Feeding Florida, an organization made up of fourteen food banks, including Second Harvest Food Bank, serving over 325,000 food insecure clients weekly throughout the state.
The summit’s goal was to have participants learn from not only the invited speakers, but from each other about current trends in the fields of child food insecurity, childhood obesity, undernutrition and their social implications. Other topics included discussion of innovative programs that improve school learning environments, the role of health professionals, and the value of community collaboration.
Invited speakers included Florida’s Surgeon General Celeste Philip, PEW Charitable Trusts Jessica Donze Black and former American Academy of Pediatrics President, Sandra Hassink.
The speakers approached their topics by starting with federal-level programs and issues, then state, then school, then individual impact. This approach resulted in proper perspective and the opportunity to gain insight.
A few noteworthy quotes follow:
- “It’s not nutrition until they eat or drink it.” It has to be food that the kids both want and need to eat. Finding balance proves difficult.
- “It’s not them and us. It’s just us.” We all have the same goal of feeding hungry kids. Collaboration and the resultant community impact.
- “Involve the communities and their leaders.” Change has to come from within.
- “It’s a team sport. Encourage involvement in eligible programs.” There is often a lag in communication and it is important to reach out to different organizations and inform them of potential eligibility.
- “Those who show up, influence the outcome.” Change doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be fought for and advocated about.