Americorps Week

This week celebrates Americorps and all of the volunteer currently serving, as well as those who have served in the past.

GardenShare is thrilled to have an Amercorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) working with us this year.  Brianna Blackburn started in November and will serve a full year, working on farmers markets, SNAP (formerly called food stamps), and volunteer recruitment.

Brianna comes to GardenShare through the Anti-Hunger Opportunity Corps, which is a program of Hunger Free America and the USDA, and is supported by WalMart and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

GardenShare will soon be recruiting for a second Americorps VISTA position, to start in June.  Watch this space and gardenshare.org for more details.

National School Breakfast Week:

            You know those sayings that you’ve heard so many times in your life that they just become ingrained in the back of your mind? For me, the phrase ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ fits into this category. Although I know breakfast is important, I think the phrase has been used so much that many people, including myself, forget just why. With National School Breakfast Week coming up this week, I think it is important to be reminded why breakfast is so valuable to a child’s education.

            According to the USDA, in 2015, over 90,000 schools served school breakfast to 14 million students each day. Out of these 14 million breakfasts, 11 million each day were free breakfasts for students from low-income families. That means that without meal assistance, approximately 11 million students everyday are at risk of going hungry! By feeding students school breakfasts, they are more likely to reach higher levels of achievement in reading and math, have better concentration, participate in class, and retain more of what they learn. Studies also show that offering free school breakfast results in better attendance records. The point is that, the 2.3 billion school breakfasts served annually, many of these free or reduced, greatly help children and especially those from low income families, to have a more equal playing field in life. Hunger reinforces the cycle of poverty. Arriving to school hungry every day prevents students from reaching their potential. By providing breakfast to those who cannot afford it, kids are no longer held back by hunger and are given a fairer chance to be successful in school.

            Knowing the importance of eating breakfast, what are some ways to spread awareness of the value of school breakfasts? Some ideas for this year’s National School Breakfast Week include creating a school breakfast challenge! Students are handed a card at the beginning of the week and receive a hole punch every day they purchase a breakfast item. At the end of the week, students who have 5 hole punches are entered into a raffle! Cards can be downloaded at www.schoolnutrition.org/NSBW. Other ideas include having a school art contest or a classroom photo contest centered on the topic of National School Breakfast Week! Posting pictures online or hanging artwork around the school can help spark dialogue on the importance of school breakfast. For more National School Breakfast Week ideas, visit the School Nutrition Association website at the following link: http://schoolnutrition.org/Meetings/Events/NSBW/2017/getstarted/

-- Jamie Oriol

SLU student and

GardenShare intern

Two weeks til Cabin Fever Trivia Night!

It will be here before you know it!  Have you put together a team and signed up for Cabin Fever Trivia Night?

Saturday, March 18, 2017
7:00 PM
Potsdam Elks Club

Admission $20 per person with a discount to $10 for students!


Compete in a North Country trivia contest in teams of four - put your own team together or we'll match you up with someone.

Prizes!
First and second place in the trivia contest
Best team name
Best team uniform

Register soon - this event often sells out!

All proceeds benefit GardenShare's work.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Presenting sponsors:

Partnership sponsor:

Friend sponsor:

Mort Backus and Sons

THE PROBLEM WITH BLOCK GRANTS

The federal government’s entitlement programs reflect a commitment to meet low-income people’s basic needs in a few essential areas, including health (through Medicaid), food (SNAP,), and support to people with disabilities ( Supplemental Security Income). All people who meet the programs’ eligibility criteria can access them without delay, and funding increases automatically and immediately respond to increased need resulting from economic downturns, natural disasters, or higher-than-expected costs (such as when a new drug increases health care costs). In contrast, block grants are fixed pots of money that the federal government gives to states to provide those benefits or services. Initial block grant funding levels are often inadequate initially, and they typically erode over time due to inflation. Block grants don’t respond rapidly or at all to increased need. And states can shift the federal funds to other purposes or to replace state funding, or they can make program cuts that federal law doesn't permit now.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 2/22/17, Block Grants

Expanding GardenShare's work to help families afford healthy, locally grown food

Have you heard about the expansion of GardenShare’s Bonus Bucks program?  This program is a way for lower-income and working families to double their buying power at local farmers markets, or to receive a financial assistance for 50% of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share.

Our goal with the program is to reach families that may be struggling to put healthy food on the table while supporting local farmers.  Interestingly enough, the USDA is just starting research to determine if these kinds of subsidy programs can help improve nutrition for low-income families, and strengthen local economies by increasing farmers sales.  Read a synopsis of the planned study and early steps here.

Full details on GardenShare's program, including income eligibility guidelines, and an application can be found here.  Below is a quick summary:

Subsidized CSA Share - The customer chooses a CSA from the list of participating farms. Every farm works differently and offers different products and pricing, so it is important to research and call the farm to determine which one works best for a specific household. GardenShare can cover half the cost of the CSA share for eligible households, up to a max value of $250.  The customer pays the balance..

Double your money at the farmers market - For households that receive SNAP benefits, just take the SNAP card straight to the market manager to get double value. If you are not on SNAP, you can still double your purchasing power with our new punch card program.  If your household meets the income requirement, you can purchase up to 25 punch cards per year, meaning $250 dollars worth of farmers market coins will only cost you $125, each individual $10 punch card costs you $5 out of pocket and each card can be purchased in single quantity or in bulk. Punch cards are taken to the market manager in exchange for $2 tokens which can only be spent on food at the farmers
market.

Funding for Bonus Bucks is generously supported through the Health Initiative in partnership with Alcoa and generous GardenShare donors.  If you would like to help support this program, go here to make a tax-deductible donation.

This program will be operating as long as funds are available

For more information reach us at 315-261-8054 or at info.@gardenshare.org

FACING SNAP CHALLENGES

SNAP is often considered one of the more effective and efficient safety net programs. A large body of research shows that SNAP reduces poverty, improves food security among low-income households, and has positive effects on infant health and long-term benefits for children who received it. Nevertheless, despite this strong track record, the program still faces challenges. The main challenge is how to engage participants in work. Work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) were largely reinstated across the country by 2016. But it is unclear the extent to which work requirements and work programs can help other populations engage in work. SNAP Employment and Training pilot programs are currently being tested across the country, but none are testing mandatory requirements outside of those involving ABAWDs. Additional pilots in a few states could be implemented and rigorously studied to determine whether mandatory work requirements for able-bodied adults with children could be effective and whether they increase employment among SNAP recipients. If successful, efforts to expand work requirements more broadly could be explored.

Source: American Enterprise Institute, 2/22/17, SNAP Challenges

PLATE OF THE UNION

The Environmental Working Group and Food Policy Action Education Fund are launching the Plate of the Union campaign, which aims to encourage consumers to become activists for policies that make food safer, make healthy food more accessible, and make food production better for our environment. The new initiative will deploy grassroots and online tools and tactics to raise awareness about farm and food policies, and show why consumers must demand their right to healthy food as Congress begins crafting a new Farm Bill. The campaign will focus on four main issues: (1) stopping taxpayer subsidies going to Big Ag polluters; (2) protecting and improving anti-hunger programs like SNAP; (3) increasing federal investments in organic agriculture; and 4) expanding federal programs to revitalize land and reduce food waste.

Source: InsuranceNewsNet, 2/22/17, Plate of the Union