Latest news with #hunger
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Manna Food Project reports rise in food insecurity, people seeking food assistance
PETOSKEY — Grocery store visits and housing costs continue to rise, causing major financial strain for some Michiganders, and Emmet County is no different. Carrie Klingelsmith, executive director of the Manna Food Project, said the group has been working to help reduce the strain, spending more on food to keep grocery costs lower for Northern Michigan residents. According to a press release from The Manna Food Project, one in six Michigan residents — more than 1.5 million people — struggle with food insecurity, and one in five children do not know where their next meal will come from. Around 600,000 of those Michiganders are ineligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The number of people experiencing hunger rose to 14.9% in Emmet County, with 48% of food insecure people ineligible for SNAP, according to recent data from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap study, which uses data from 2023. Manna supports residents in Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties, and all three saw an increase in adult and child hunger. Through May 2025, the Manna Food Project had distributed more than 700,000 pounds of food throughout the region, a 24% increase from last year. To try to keep up with demand, Klingelsmith said Manna has been seeking outside funding sources and partnerships, including grant writing. "It is very fulfilling every day," she said. "Everybody right now is just having a really difficult time, and being there to listen and show compassion to people — I think is super important in the work that we do every day." Subscribe: Get unlimited access to our local coverage In the last four years, the group has seen an increase of around 84% of people seeking food assistance, Klingelsmith said. She added that when people are food insecure, they likely need financial assistance in other areas as well. "It's a snowball effect," she said. "It just takes one thing — an ice storm, for example — to set people back where they just can't catch up. It's a rollercoaster of people trying to manage the different aspects of their lives." For people interested in learning more about the Manna Food Project, how to donate or get involved with volunteering, visit — Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@ Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @KarlyGrahamJrn. This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Manna Food Project sees rise in food insecurity, requests for assistance in Emmet County
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Retro Radio: Take another look at Merlinda Bobis's Banana Heart Summer
Banana Heart Summer is a story about a Filipino family's love for food while experiencing hunger. Merlina Bobis is a Filipina-Australian author who was born in Legaspi, Albay. Banana Heart Summer was published in 2005. SBS Filipino 20/06/2025 10:54 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Founder of community fridge service recognised in King's Birthday Honours
The founder of a local food service has made the King's Birthday Honours list. Sabrina Cresswell aged 42 runs Tasty Not Wasty a 'community fridge' based in Cwmbran. The service provides free food and aims to fight hunger poverty and reduce waste. Sabrina has been running the service for three years and has now been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to the community. Sabrina Cresswell leader of Tasty Not Wasty (Image: Sabrina Cresswell) Speaking of this achievement she said: 'It's a great honour even just the nomination and when I got the call to say I'd been on the list it was a huge surprise.' Sabrina added: 'We collect food from supermarkets so that it doesn't go to waste our group is for anyone and everyone that wants to come. 'Some people come because they like the ethos, some people might come if they need a bit of extra food. There's a complete mixture of people.' Sabrina first took an interest in volunteering back in 2020 and was heavily influenced by the pandemic. Fruit at Tasty Not Wasty (Image: Sabrina Cresswell) She said: 'During Covid I was helping people by getting prescriptions and I was helping set up some of the food bank provisions. 'When we were donating it, I realised there was overwhelmingly need for it, and it was becoming a group. 'Our primary aim is to reduce food waste and helping people who need it.' Of course, none of this would be possible without some additional help. Fruit at Tasty Not Wasty (Image: Sabrina Cresswell) Sabrina also gave thanks to Tasty Not Wasty's volunteers. 'I wouldn't be anywhere without the volunteers they literally set it forward and have been an amazing support for the community we've got probably week to week 35 and extra's at Christmas.' Tasty Not Wasty is located in Llanyrafon Methodist Church and runs every Tuesday to Saturday 10am to11:30am. On average 40 to 50 people rely on the group every day.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
England is expanding free school meals – here's what could happen if they were given to all children
The UK government has announced an extension of free school meals in England to all children whose parents receive universal credit, in order to address child hunger and poverty. The government claims that half a million more pupils will now have access to school lunches for free. The total number of children registered for free school meals in England is currently about 2.2 million, or about 26% of the total school population. In addition, all children in infant school, aged between four and seven, are entitled to receive a hot lunch at school. But given the high rates of child poverty in the UK, and the value a decent meal provides, there is evidence that free school meals for all children could provide significant benefits in England. The provision in Scotland and Wales is more generous: free school meals for children from primary one to five in Scotland (ages four to ten) and for all children in primary school in Wales. But other countries make provision for all children, in both primary and secondary education, to receive meals at school. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. Child poverty in the UK continues to be historically high. In 2023-24, 3.4 million children – 23% of all children in the UK – were in relative income poverty. Incidence of child poverty is particularly acute in cities. In the UK, the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit resulted in a rise in unemployment. This in turn led to widespread instances of extreme poverty and child hunger. The lack of active policies in the UK to address child hunger, malnourishment and increasing childhood obesity has been widely criticised by the British Medical Association. The UK's experience of high levels of child poverty is in stark contrast with most other high-income countries. The UK ranked 37th out of 39 by child income poverty, ahead only of Turkey and Colombia, in 2023. In comparison, the UK's adult poverty rate is close to the OECD average, ranking 23rd out of 39 high-income countries. This implies that child poverty can be high even if adult poverty levels are relatively low. Providing nutritious free school meals is a fundamental cornerstone of government policy to ensure child welfare. It's used as a poverty alleviation measure all over the world. Almost half of the world's school meals are free, feeding 418 million children. Many of these programmes are based in developing countries. The world's largest free school meal programme runs in India: the 'mid-day meal scheme' feeds 125 million children aged six to 14 and costs the equivalent of £2 billion each year. Similar successful programmes are run in Brazil and some African countries, with another having recently been launched in Indonesia. But schemes in Finland and Sweden also cover almost all school children. There is a growing body of global evidence on the wider beneficial effects of free school meals on child poverty. Free school meals in India have resulted in higher cognitive outcomes. They have increased school enrolment and school attendance, and thus educational outcomes. They have also been found to have an intergenerational effect. In India, fewer shorter children were born to women who had benefited from the country's school food programme. Nutritionally balanced children's school meals are also associated with lower incidence of obesity. Studies in the US and UK, for example, have shown universal provision is linked to lower obesity rates. Research into the Swedish scheme has found that children who have free school meals with prescribed nutritional standards not only have higher educational attainment and better health outcomes in adulthood, but also higher incomes. Children from families in the lowest income quartile in Sweden who received free school meals for nine years increased their lifetime income by 6%. Other tangible economic benefits include significant reductions in potential healthcare costs as a result of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases. A 2025 European Union report estimates the return from investment in school meal programmes is at least sevenfold, up to a possible €34 for every €1 spent. While there is rich scientific and economic evidence that universal free school meals are immensely beneficial, a child's access to nutrition and government support to obtain nourishment is also a fundamental human right. The School Meals Coalition is an international consortium of 108 countries to achieve free school meals for all by 2030. The UK is one of the few advanced countries not signed up to it. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
First-of-its-kind food insecurity summit in Montreal looks for long-term solutions
At the On Rock Community Services food bank, staff struggle to fill shelves often. (Swidda Rassy/CTV News) Food insecurity is a crisis that is growing across Canada, and the first-ever food insecurity summit in Montreal focused on delivering real solutions. At the On Rock Community Services in Pierrefonds on the West Island, the stocks of food are low and barely keeping up with demand. 'We've never run out, but we have been in a place where we walk around with a bit of a worried face, wondering if we're going to make it this week,' said president Kim Reid. Reid said his food bank helps around 300 families in and around the borough, but every week, he sees new faces. 'One week we had 17 registrations,' he said. Limited supplies mean more 'Not This Week' signs go up regularly. Data from Food Banks Canada shows that more than 2 million people visit a food bank each month, which are numbers that have never been seen before. 'So the stat that really keeps me up at night is that 30 per cent of food banks ran out of food last year before they could meet their community's needs,' said Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley. At the Food Insecurity Summit, stakeholders from across the country gathered to find solutions, as food banks face the perfect storm of rising cost of living, lack of supplies and increased hunger. 'The rate that we're seeing the increase right now is going to be unsustainable in the long term,' said Philanthropy/Food Banks of Quebec director Veronique Beaulieu-Fowler. The goal of the summit is to cut food insecurity by half in the next five years. 'But we also need to look long-term at reducing the number of people who need food banks in the first place, and that's going to take government policy and government action,' said Beardsley. She added that a collective effort will be needed from governments, corporations, non-profits and individuals. At On Rock Community Services, the staff takes it a day at a time. 'It's another one of those up-and-down things where sometimes we're doing great and other times we're riding the ragged edge of disaster,' said Reid.
