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Home / Media / ePiñata / June 20, 2016

Walmart Foundation Awards Hispanic Federation Grant to Fight Hunger

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Household Food Security report indicated 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million children. Households that had high higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (19%), especially households with children headed by single women (35%) and Hispanic households (22%). Hispanic children and their families are in fact underserved by government assistance programs such as SNAP, probably because undocumented immigrant families are not eligible for government help.

Thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation, Hispanic Federation is expanding its efforts to address hunger in the Latino community. HF's National Hunger Relief Initiative will support a five-state network of social service agencies that amplify access to meals and healthy, nutritious food to struggling Latino families and individuals, and raise awareness about food insecurity in our community. The initiative will provide over 500,000 meals annually via food purchases and subgrants with local member agencies, who will be primarily responsible for providing meals, food pantries and food benefit services such as SNAP to food insecure children, youth and families.

Among the organizations that have been selected to partner in the fight against hunger are: La Casa de Don Pedro, in Newark, New Jersey; Congreso de Latinos Unidos, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kissimmee Family Mission in Osceola & Orange Counties; Feed & Fortify in Orlando, Florida; and the Latin American Association, in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to working with the five sub-grantees, HF will continue its current hunger relief efforts with the 13 food pantries in New York City, Long Island and Westchester. Funds from the Walmart Foundation grant will help HF purchase food and distribute it to the food pantries via the "Partners on the Go/Transit Connect Van."

“We know all too well that people in our community, particularly children, are going hungry,” said HF President José Calderón. “That’s unacceptable. We have identified five key organizations across the nation who understand the problem and are willing to work with us to create solutions. This won’t be easy but I have every confidence that we can be successful and eventually expand the program to other communities.”

A key component of the National Hunger Relief Initiative will be a multi-state public education campaign that creates awareness and education about the reality of hunger in the targeted Latino communities. This national public education campaign expands upon HF's current "Lucha Contra El Hambre/Hunger Relief Campaign" public education efforts.