WATCH: Community Conversation focuses on hunger in Miami Valley and how to help

“Hunger is all around us,” former Congressman Tony Hall, who founded the Hall Hunger Initiative, recently told our reporters.

One in six people in our community lives with food insecurity. That means they don’t have enough affordable, nutritious food to sustain their lives.

Fortunately, there are a number of organizations across our region working diligently to help fill the need and put food on the tables of those who require assistance.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS: Hunger in the Miami Valley - and how to help

One in six people in our community lives with food insecurity. That means they don’t have enough affordable, nutritious food to sustain their lives. Fortunately, there are a number of organizations across our region working diligently to help fill the need and put food on the tables of those who require assistance. At noon on Wednesday, Nov. 30 on the Dayton Daily News Facebook Page, join us for a Community Conversation with a panel of those on the front lines of the fight against food insecurity.

Posted by Dayton Daily News on Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Here and on the Dayton Daily News Facebook Page, join us for a Community Conversation with a panel of those on the front lines of the fight against food insecurity. The discussion will be hosted by Community Impact Editor Nick Hrkman and panelists include:

  • Tyra Jackson, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank CCL
  • Michael Knote, founder of the Have A Gay Day food pantry
  • Terry Perdue, Executive Director of Shared Harvest Food Bank
  • Lynda Suda, Manager of the 2nd Street Market
  • Lauren Tappel, Development and Marketing Manager for The Foodbank Dayton
  • Mark Willis, Director of the Hall Hunger Initiative

You can also help by donating to the Dayton Daily News Valley Food Relief fund drive, and Community Food Relief fund drives with the Springfield News-Sun and Journal-News — with 100% of your donation going to local food banks to feed hungry families right here in our community.

For more than 40 years, the readers of the Dayton Daily News, the Journal-News and the Springfield News-Sun have opened their hearts and wallets to support Valley Food Relief and Community Food Relief, which raises money for The Foodbank, Inc. (Dayton), Shared Harvest Foodbank (Butler and Warren counties), and Second Harvest Foodbank (Clark, Champaign and Logan counties.)

Last year, thanks to your generosity, our efforts raised more than $220,000, providing more than 1,250,000 meals. Every penny donated to Community and Valley Food Relief is used to buy food to feed hungry families right here in our community.

Hear from two local organizations fighting food insecurity and other issues in our communities.

Valley Food Relief and the root causes of food insecurity:

“When we discuss issues of food justice, it is critical that we center our work in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in order to address the way that poverty, food, and racial inequity intersect. Countless research has shown that people of color face higher rates of food insecurity than their white peers. Feeding America has estimated that over 24% of Black households experienced food insecurity in 2020.”

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VOICES: Picking up pieces and paying it forward:

“A 2015 assessment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development states that of the 564,708 people who were homeless on any given night in United States, 25% of had a serious mental illness. People who are without permanent residence and mental illness also are more vulnerable to addiction.

Because physical and mental wellness are closely tied, lack of access to nutritional food is just another challenge for people who are homeless, in addition to the 44 million Americans who are at risk of suffering from hunger. More than 30% of people in the Foodbank’s service area struggle with food insecurity, nearly 33% of whom are children.”

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