Business and community leaders kick off FOOD Share’s annual ‘Tackle Hunger’ campaign

VENTURA — From Oct. 30 – Feb. 3, more than 60 of Ventura County’s prominent business and political leaders will join forces to support FOOD Share’s most ambitious campaign endeavor of the year – “Tackle Hunger,” the organization reported in a media release on Wednesday.

FOOD Share kicked off its annual “Tackle Hunger” campaign on Oct. 30.

“With more than 74,500 friends that we serve each month, we are still seeing new hungry families, seniors and children in need seeking our help,” Bonnie Weigel, president and CEO of FOOD Share, stated in the release. “It’s truly humbling to see all of the overwhelming support we receive from our local leaders during our Tackle Hunger campaign. They are the example of corporate social responsibility at its best as they dedicate much of their time to find ways to help fellow citizens in need during the holidays.”

Through creative strategies and events to build support for the local food bank, community partners have made it a goal to collect over $150,000 in monetary donations and more than 200,000 pounds of donated food to help restock the shelves of FOOD Share’s warehouse distribution center. With more than 7.9 million meals distributed over the last fiscal year, FOOD Share welcomes every canned food item and dollar donated. In the first three months of the current fiscal year alone, the regional food bank has already delivered and distributed 2.4 million pounds of food, an equivalent to 1.9 million meals.

Over the next three months, FOOD Share’s All-Star Tackle Hunger committee, a team comprised of some of its core stakeholders and corporate community leaders, will take the Tackle Hunger message to the streets in an effort to build awareness about hunger and garner additional community support for the campaign. The goal is to encourage neighborhoods, businesses, youth groups and individuals to collect monetary and food donations and find new and creative ways to meet the food bank’s needs to feed the hungry during the holiday season.

A partial listing of events that are already in place for this year’s Tackle Hunger team include:

• Carden Conejo School of Westlake (Nov. 12-15): Students in grades pre-school through eighth will learn a lesson in food insecurity , as well as develop food collecting events to benefit FOOD Share. Faculty will adapt educational curriculum to incorporate food insecurity into many areas, including mathematics, physical education, language arts, social studies and more. A unique OXFAM Hunger Banquet will be held in which children will receive a random ticket to access a meal based on global poverty rates from a table of lush, diverse food options to a serving of rice and water.

• CanTree Collection (Dec. 7-9): Celebrate. Build. Help. Located at the Riverpark community’s new outdoor shopping and dining destination, The Collection, FOOD Share will celebrate team work with a fun-filled weekend as the food bank challenges businesses and neighborhood to team up to collect cans to build their own “can tree” for hunger.

• Santa to the Sea: (Dec. 9) Volunteers can put their best foot forward and join FOOD Share at the Santa to the Sea half marathon and 5k event. Participants of FOOD Share’s Tackle Hunger team will enjoy the beautiful views of the Southern California coastline as they race to the finish line to support the local food bank.

Tackle Hunger donations can be made by going to www.foodshare.com and clicking on the Tackle Hunger icon.

About FOOD Share:

The food bank distributing millions of pounds of food each year to those in need throughout Ventura County, FOOD Share collects and receives food year-round, distributing through more than 150 pantry partner agencies throughout Ventura County, including Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Oak View, Ojai, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Somis, Thousand Oaks, and Ventura.

FOOD Share provides food to more than 74,500 people each month countywide through its partner agencies and multiple programs. Programs include the Senior Brown Bag that provides supplemental nutrition to nearly 2,000 low income seniors, home delivered meals and supplemental groceries through the Oxnard and Ventura Senior Nutrition Programs and, the Kids’ Farmers’ Markets, offering nutrition education, healthy recipe preparation and taste testing and a farmers’ market free fresh produce “shopping experience.”

In 2011, FOOD Share partnered with Ventura County’s Human Services Agency to provide expanded CalFresh enrollment assistance. CalFresh, formerly called food stamps, is the largest federal nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental nutrition assistance to eligible Ventura County residents.

For more information: call 805-983-7100 or go to http://www.foodshare.com