New faces, longer lines and empty shelves: Ohio s hunger-fighting network is sounding the alarm as it faces unprecedented challenges. At the Southeast Ohio Foodbank in Logan, Director Rose Frech said with inventory at about 15% of capacity, they re struggling with severe food shortages. That s forced them to make difficult decisions, she said, such as canceling direct mobile food distributions. .
Local nonprofits in the Bay Area are tackling hunger in low-income neighborhoods by stocking corner stores and "community fridges" around town with free healthy meals. The HOPE Collaborative in Oakland has received a $5,500 grant to help with this effort, from the Health, Environment, Agriculture and Labor Food Alliance - known as HEAL. Elizabeth Esparza - interim project director at HOPE Collaborative - said people think that hunger needs went down as the pandemic has eased, but that isn t the case. .
An organization in rural Missouri is getting a funding boost to empower workers at meat-processing plants, especially immigrants and refugees, and help them advocate for themselves. The Rural Community Workers Alliance, (RCWA) based in Milan near the Smithfield plant, said it will use a new Rapid Response grant from the HEAL Food Alliance to organize workers, make sure they know their rights in the workplace and advocate for policies that hold companies accountable. Axel Fuentes, executive director of the RCWA said ironically, many food industry workers struggle to afford to feed their own families. .
The Rural Community Workers Alliance has received a Rapid Response grant from the HEAL Food Alliance, to support its work with immigrant and refugee workers at meat-processing plants.