George McGovern, former U.S. senator representing South Dakota and 1972 presidential nominee, was in St. Paul last week. Invited by Hunger Solutions Minnesota to kick off the Voice of Hunger Network, McGovern is an inspirational, anti-hunger advocate. He was named by President Kennedy as the first director of the Food for Peace Program in 1960. His book, The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time, discusses the ongoing problem with hunger in our world.
VOICE OF HUNGER Advocates Network
Ø 1 in 17 Minnesotans rely upon food shelves.
Ø There has been a 62% increase in food shelf visits since 2000.
Ø Food shelves are seeing double & triple digit increases.
Ø Minnesota is in the top 10 of the 50 states in high economic distress.
Ø Food stamp recipients are increasing and the poverty rate is rising.
Ø We need to raise our voices to a new level and create the will to end hunger.
In a related note, Bremer Financial Corporation recently reported the results of the 2008 Make Change Hunger Awareness Campaign. Total contributions during June from Bremer Bank events, employee and customer donations and the Otto Bremer Foundation raised a total of $127,711 for Second Harvest Foodbanks Heartland in our service areas. Stanley Dardis, chief executive officer of Bremer Financial Corporation, agrees that “hunger is a critical issue in our communities…..Hunger continues to grow…and more and more families are faced with decisions on what they can afford.”
Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar/Marshall/Redwood Falls
No comments:
Post a Comment