Share Our Strength Program: Food Network's Charity Project

While the United States tops the list of the ten wealthiest nations of 2010, according to a recent Global Wealth Report conducted by German insurer Allianz, many Americans still face extreme poverty on a daily basis. Of these millions of Americans, the ones hit hardest are the elderly and children. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 15.5 million or approximately 20.7 percent of children in America live in poverty. With such a staggering statistic, the Food Network partnered with Share Our Strength®, help to fight childhood hunger in ways you never thought possible.

Share Our Strength® is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. With the support of Food Network and National Spokesperson, Jeff Bridges,
SOS believes it can reach its goal by the year 2015. But you may be asking yourself: how is this possible?

According to their website, Share Our Strength® maintains that, “it’s not enough to make sure America’s children have enough to eat” but that “we must make sure they are getting the nutrition they need to live healthy, active lives.” They are doing this by improving the access that families all across the country have to healthy, affordable food and by working at both state and city levels to achieve these goals. They call this strategy, No Kid Hungry.

So, what are the steps they are taking cut down on childhood hunger, you
ask? It’s simple. They are creating public- private partnerships at state and city levels to ensure clear, comprehensive, and measureable plans are in place. They also invest in communities with grants to organizations whose work improves access to nutritious foods or that educate families about such programs. Along with educating children and families about nutritious, affordable eating habits, Share Our Strength® also builds public awareness about the problem of childhood hunger and solutions to end it. But Share Our Strength® cannot do this alone. Partnerships, including one with Food Network, help make all of this possible.

Food Network is a unique lifestyle network committed to exploring “new and different ways to approach food—through pop culture, competition, adventure, and travel— while also expanding its repertoire of technique-based information,” according to its website. Because of Food Network’s far-reaching weight—reaching over 90 million U.S. households on a monthly basis—the network has become the “national voice” for Share Our Strength®. As the network’s “exclusive charity of choice,” Share Our Strength® is supported on many different platforms from awareness-raising events and public service announcements with popular chefs, to on-the-ground employee volunteers and more. See how you can become part of the “movement” toward ending childhood hunger by visiting Food Network’s website at: www.foodnetwork.com Keyword: share our strength.