Meredith Knopp’s Post

Summer is here – which means sunshine, longer days to enjoy the outdoors, and time to catch up with family and friends. It can also be a time of incredible stress and uncertainty if you are struggling with food insecurity. In our June blog, St. Louis Area Foodbank President & CEO, Meredith Knopp, discusses added challenges faced by many families in our area during the summer months and how you can make a difference. Read the full blog at: https://lnkd.in/gVes8zSs. #MakeADifference #FoodInsecurity

Have you ever thought about all the cool things to EAT in your own backyard? We have too! That may be why we have so many things to eat listed on our Louisiana Bucket List! So I have 2 questions: 1️⃣ What food item should I tackle next on this list? 2️⃣ What food items am I missing from this Louisiana list: https://lnkd.in/eGEyY2jj #OnlyLouisiana

"Unpacking the Power of Connection and Culture in Food Pantries" Discover the value of connection and culture in building a thriving community. In this video, we explore the importance of authentic communication, backed by the insights of a veteran in the field. Explore the transformative power of reinventing food banks and pantries outlined in the book, "More Than Food". #ConnectionAndCulture #BuildingCommunity #AuthenticCommunication #MoreThanFood #ReinventingFoodBanks #ThriveTogether #TransformativePower #CommunityBuilding #FoodPantries #PantriesReinvention

So ... just how many people does the Olean Food Pantry serve? Between January 2022 through September 2023, Olean Food Pantry served 39,111 people between Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Learn more in our new blog about the people we serve. https://lnkd.in/e6qGNWMe #OleanFoodPantry #ServeWithPurpose #HungerStats #LocalHungerStatistics #CommunitySupport #EndFoodInsecurity #LocalImpact #CommunityUnity #GrowingNeed #FightHungerTogether #CommunityAlly #ServeWithCompassion

Meet Itsa, the Associate Director of Equity, People and Administration at Oregon Food Bank. “Oregon Food Bank has made internal changes to continue to put the community that we serve at the forefront and to make them the priority. That really speaks to our mission. If we’re serving a community, and our goal is to be community-oriented, we need to lead with actions and not just words. Oregon Food Bank does that, and it’s a really beautiful thing.” Itsa’s story reminds us that food justice centers people in their daily, lived experience. It means that communities have power over our own food systems and that we are able to make decisions about what we grow, produce, distribute and consume. When we envision communities who never know hunger, we envision communities who can access food with safety and dignity. The Food for All Oregonians campaign envisions an Oregon where all people have access to food no matter where we’re born. Get involved this Hunger Action Month with Food for All Oregonians to increase food access. FoodForAllOR.org/Pledge.

Food security – it’s important! So is teaching students to be self-sufficient on how to grow their own nutritious food. Recently, I hung out with Food Ladder's founding CEO Kelly Zoeller (McJannett) MBA to learn how Food Ladder is addressing food security in remote and Indigenous communities. https://lnkd.in/gVc8rxHV #agritech #foodsecurity

Hunger is all about power dynamics. Food insecurity stems from a problem of access rather than availability in the US, and our current anti-hunger solution is to grant some organizations and individuals authority over its distribution, while people experiencing hunger are at the mercy of their judgements and biases. While we have a long way to go to overthrow this system, here are a few small steps that food pantries can take to begin to shift the power balance.

Distinguished Lecture Series - Food Security: Citizen’s Responsibility. We all play a pivotal role in our agri-food systems, take responsibility.

There’s nothing quite like swarm season kick-off! 🐝 If you’re wondering what’s happening here we are feeding pollen to our hives It’s like feeding horses hay With 50-60 degree temps, they are starting to fly but food is scarce Small/young hives are most likely to starve in early Spring They run out of food So, we’ll give them a hand until flowers are blooming 🌷🌼 Anyone else ready for Spring?! #fooddoinggood #foodsystem #food   I’m Nicole Balderas. Follow me for Food System insights. I connect the dots from farmer to consumer to scale BETTER food.

Who can really use a break on food prices? Schools, Lunch Programs and Community Food Groups. It's why teams like the PEI School Food Program Inc are members. If your food service organization needs help levelling the playing field on food costs, we can help. #UNIPCOmemberadvantage