Guest Commentator:
Michele Lofton, Director of Development, The Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger @GPCAHunger
How can the business community get involved in giving back to help fight hunger in the region?
As we enter the holiday season, the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger encourages people to volunteer or donate to more than 100 food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens in the Philadelphia area.
Many families are still struggling to afford enough to eat. The rising price of groceries has made things more challenging for our hungry neighbors. High food costs and supply chain challenges have presented more barriers for food banks and pantries who are finding it harder and harder to keep food flowing to more than 1 million food-insecure people in the Greater Philadelphia region.
For over two decades, the Coalition Against Hunger has been an anti-hunger leader, building a regional movement to end hunger in southeast Pennsylvania. Our mission is to build a community where all people have the food they need to lead healthy lives. If you can help, please consider either volunteering your time or donating money/food items this holiday season. Please review our list of holiday volunteer opportunities and consider lending your time or support.
While we’ve heard about the ongoing Build Back Better Act (BBB) negotiations for some time, the bill text has finally been released. Now is not the time to get complacent! We need you to urge Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act NOW, paving the way for critical investments to fight child hunger. Do so by emailing your officials with the Food Research & Action Center’s one-click email tool.
While the child nutrition provisions in the bill have been scaled down to $10 billion (from a proposed $35 billion), this historic legislation still advances critical investments to help children recover from the devastating educational, health, and economic impacts that remain as a result of the pandemic. The bill would:
- Expand the number of schools that would be able to offer free meals to all their students through the Community Eligibility Provision.
- Give states the option to implement the Community Eligibility Provision statewide, allowing all students in the state to receive school breakfast and lunch at no charge.
- Extend Summer EBT nationwide for students who receive free or reduced-price school meals.
- Provide $30 million for school kitchen equipment grants.
- Provide $250 million for a Healthy School Meal Incentives demonstration project.
In addition, the bill would extend the refundable child tax credit (CTC), which has been a lifeline for low-income families – for one year. Learn more about what’s included in the BBB.
Through Recharge & Recover PHL, the Chamber is working with our members to make Greater Philadelphia the healthiest and most livable community in the Northeast.
This objective is part of five aspirations of Recharge & Recover PHL with the aim to support not only Greater Philadelphia’s recovery but to also provide a means to differentiate our region for decades to come.
