O.O. members to take the Food Stamp Challenge

Operation Others Core Team members and others will participate in a modified version of the Food Stamp Challenge. After watching the documentary Food Stamped, groups of four will attempt to purchase healthy food to create meals for one day.  Students will be given the average daily food stamp allotment for a family of four ($12).  A discussion will occur regarding the SNAP program and the experience of living on the program for one day. Students will attempt to find out if it is possible to eat healthy on food stamps. Stay tuned for more information.

Student Reflection: O.O. Members Pack and Deliver Lunches for Others!

On August 5, Operation Others members packed lunches with food provided by the Open Door Mission Streets of Omaha Project and delivered them throughout Northeast Omaha. Please read Molly and Tina's reflection on the experience below.  Please visit http://www.opendoormission.org/ for more about the Open Door Mission and visit http://creightonprep.creighton.edu/page.cfm?p=2115 for more information about Operation Others

We went to the Open Door Mission to make over one thousand sack lunches, and delivered them throughtout Omaha. As we drove around and gave the lunches to people on the streets we witnessed a part of Omaha that we haven't really seen before. Everyone was so grateful and kind, someone even hugged us. This was a very eye-opening experience for us because we've heard a lot about the lack of food in many people's lives, but we never truely saw it. This helped us to see the hungry people in Omaha directly and let us feel a little bit of their pain. This experience helped us to connect with our community through food, which is what Operation Others is all about. It felt great to help others in need and we would definitly recommend this to others!


Peace, Love, & Food
Molly and Tina

Report on hunger ‘alarming' - Omaha.com

Report on hunger ‘alarming' - Omaha.com

Can you eat healthy on a budget? Local experts and consumers discuss

Is is possible to eat healthy on a budget? A new study says no, but some local experts and consumers disagree.  Click the link below to access the article describing reactions to the study.  Feel free to comment on this post and express your thoughts. 

Eating healthy on a budget - LivewellNebraska.com


For more information please seek out the article published in the journal Health Affairs.

Following Federal Guidelines To Increase Nutrient Consumption May Lead To Higher Food Costs For ConsumersHealth Affairs August 2011 30:81471-1477

Following Federal Guidelines To Increase Nutrient Consumption May Lead To Higher Food Costs For Consumers

Here is the abstract from a new University of Washington study regarding the consumer cost of meeting the federal food guidelines:

The federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, emphasized the need for Americans to consume more potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D, and calcium, and to get fewer calories from saturated fat and added sugar. We examined the economic impact of meeting these guidelines for adults in King County, Washington. We found that increasing consumption of potassium—the most expensive of the four recommended nutrients—would add $380 per year to the average consumer’s food costs. Meanwhile, each time consumers obtained 1 percent more of their daily calories from saturated fat and added sugar, their food costs significantly declined. These findings suggest that improving the American diet will require additional guidance for consumers, especially those with little budget flexibility, and new policies to increase the availability and reduce the cost of healthful foods.

source: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/8/1471.abstract
the complete study was published in the August 2011 Health Affairs Journal (vol. 30 no. 8)

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Very Rev. Tom Smolich, S.J., President of the Jesuit Conference, has signed on as a “primary signatory” to a new ecumenical and interfaith “Circle of Protection” Statement urging the Federal Government to protect programs for the poor.

Here is a quote from the statement:

"In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political—and moral.

As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up—how it treats those Jesus called "the least of these" (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. We know from our experience serving hungry and homeless people that these programs meet basic human needs and protect the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable. We believe that God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms, and to speak out for justice.

As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad."

Vist  http://www.circleofprotection.us/ for more information and to read the entire statement

House Passes Appropriations Bill: proposed cuts to programs that keep millions from going hungry would be devastating

With more than 50 million people facing hunger, the unemployment rate still hovering near 9 percent, and one in eight Americans seeking food from Feeding America food banks, the proposed cuts to safety-net programs that keep millions of women, infants, children and seniors from going hungry would be devastating

• Funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) would be cut $51 million – or 20%. The program provides food at no cost to low-income Americans in need of short-term hunger relief, resulting in a decrease of the amount of food available to distribute to struggling families in a time of record need.
• $12 million from administrative funding to TEFAP would be cut. These funds help food banks and other agencies store and safely distribute emergency food, making it more difficult for them to serve hungry families.
• $38 million – or 22% – from the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which provides a nutritious monthly food package primarily to low-income seniors. This cut would literally take food away from senior citizens across the country.
• $686 million from The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which would end food assistance for over 300,000 low-income women and children.

Now that the House has passed its FY 12 budget resolution and its agriculture appropriations bill, our focus shifts to the Senate.  With the Senate poised to act on their budget resolution and appropriations process, our best chance to reject the House-approved cuts and protect these vital programs lies there. 

It is critical that key Senators hear opposition to nutrition cuts so they know these programs are important to their constituents and they should protect them as senators draft a more viable deficit reduction plan and more humane agriculture appropriations bill.  Please use our Hunger Action Center to urge our congressional leaders to protect the programs that help those in need.

All Information from Feeding America website @ http://feedingamerica.org/get-involved/advocate/2011-budget-cuts.aspx