- Feeding America
Feeding America (formerly named America's Second Harvest) is a
United States basednonprofit organization . It consists of a nation-wide network of more than 200food bank s andfood rescue organizationscite book|author=Carroll, B. Jill |authorlink= |editor= |others= |title=The savage side: reclaiming violent models of God |edition= |language= |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, Md |year=2001 |origyear= |pages= p374|quote= |isbn=0-7425-1281-9 |oclc= |doi= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VK6j1qMh1BUC&pg=RA1-PA374&dq=%22America%27s+Second+Harvest%22&ei=jMGESNjxJ6aijgHblviiCA&sig=ACfU3U2tSEB_FHm93ndj-B_NS5J-jaKrLQ |accessdate=] that serve virtually every county in the United States as well asPuerto Rico . It is the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization, headquartered inChicago, Illinois . The current president and CEO is Vicki B. Escarra.cite web|url=http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Vistaprint-NASDAQ-VPRT-780704.html |title=VistaPrint and America's Second Harvest Collaborate With Procter & Gamble to Offer Exclusive Holiday Cards |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2007-10-15|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5ZU2ynVOY|archivedate= 2008-07-21|quote= |accessdate=2008-07-21] UntilAugust 31 ,2008 , Feeding America was known as America's Second Harvest. [http://www.secondharvest.org/about_us/feeding_america.html]Mission
To feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage the country in the fight to end hunger.
History
In the late 1960s,
John van Hengel , a retired businessman inPhoenix, Arizona began volunteering at a localsoup kitchen , and began soliciting food donations for the kitchen. He ended up with far more food than the kitchen could use in its operations. Around this time, he spoke with one of the clients, who told him that she regularly fed her family with discarded items from the grocery store's garbage bins. She told him that the food quality was fine, but that there should be a place where unwanted food could be stored and later accessed by people who needed it, similar to how banks store money.Van Hengel began to actively solicit this unwanted food from grocery stores, local gardens, and nearby produce farms. His effort led to the creation of St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix, the nation's first food bank.cite web|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051009/news_mz1j9passing.html |title= Transitions|author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2005-10-09|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5ZU1jNFDI|archivedate= 2008-07-21|quote= |accessdate=2008-07-21]
In 1917, St. Mary's was given a federal grant to assist in developing food banks across the nation. This effort was formally incorporated into a separate non-profit organization in 1976.cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100701911_2.html |title=John van Hengel Dies at 83; Founded 1st Food Bank in 1967 |author= Patricia Sullivan|authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2005-10-08|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5ZU1xZW3h|archivedate= 2008-07-21|quote= |accessdate=2008-07-21]
In 2001, America's Second Harvest merged with Foodchain,cite book|author=O'Connor, Alice; Mink, Gwendolyn |authorlink= |editor= |others= |title=Poverty in the United States: an encyclopedia of history, politics, and policy |edition= |language= |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |year=2004 |origyear= |pages= p389|quote= |isbn=1-57607-597-4 |oclc= |doi= |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=40Zv8DC4g38C&pg=PA323&dq=%22America%27s+Second+Harvest%22&ei=jMGESNjxJ6aijgHblviiCA&sig=ACfU3U0ZThkHbFqX9rmQx2_xiMU_EI6EzQ#PPA389,M1|accessdate=] at that time the nation's largest food-rescue organization.
In May 2007, it was featured on "
American Idol ", named as a charity in the Idol Gives Back charity program.cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042601994_pf.html |title='Idol' Charity Donations Top $60M - washingtonpost.com |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= 2007-04-26|format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/5ZU2LCNkH|archivedate= 2008-07-21|quote= |accessdate=2008-07-21]In September 2008, the organization name was changed to Feeding America. The new name conveys the mission—providing food to Americans living with hunger—and will be supported through expansive public outreach campaigns that will raise awareness of domestic hunger and Feeding America's work.
Notes
External links
* [http://www.feedingamerica.org/ Feeding America Online]
* [http://charityreports.bbb.org/Public/Report.aspx?CharityID=2331 BBB Wise Giving Report on America's Second Harvest]
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