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How a $3 billion USDA coronavirus program is helping feed S.C. families

Sam Ogozalek

September 10, 2020 |

The GroundTruth Project |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Bluffton, South Carolina

A new initiative from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is helping connect farmers with those who are facing food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic. The program, known as Farmers to Families, allocates monetary contracts to companies that go towards distributing boxes of produce to families. In South Carolina, one farm has been able to distribute over 5.2 million pounds of food throughout the southeast region of the state.

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In Rural Vermont, Food Relief Program Is Eyed as Model

Meg McIntyre

September 08, 2020 |

The Daily Yonder |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Brattleboro, Vermont

A food-relief initiative in Brattleboro, Vermont is helping connect people facing food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic with free meals that are provided by local restaurants. The initiative – which also requires that the restaurants source 10% of the food from local farms – has already provided nearly 12,000 meals to local residents.

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When Boston's public schools closed in March, their gardens went untended. Then a volunteer effort grew.

Lisa Zwirn

September 08, 2020 |

The Boston Globe |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

After Boston Public Schools closed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 70 volunteers tended schoolyard gardens at 14 schools to grow food for local families experiencing economic hardship. While students were not able to participate because of COVID restrictions, residents during the summer months cleaned garden beds and planted vegetables like eggplants, cucumbers, and peppers. Organizers expect to harvest about 300 pounds of vegetables by the end of September.

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For many Chicago communities, there is no COVID safety net. So teachers are stepping in.

Yana Kunichoff

September 08, 2020 |

Chalkbeat |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

In Chicago, teachers across the city created mutual aid groups to help students and their families pay rent, buy groceries, or cover medical bills. By using their existing networks, social media, and apps like Venmo, groups have been able to raise thousands of dollars. One mutual aid group from Roberto Clemente Community Academy in Humboldt Park raised $34,288 in about six months. “If we don’t help, who will?”

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Young People Are Fighting Hunger and Finding Purpose

Richard Schiffman

September 01, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Culver City, California

High school and college-age volunteers in Culver City, California are playing a significant role in the creation of a food-distribution system that aims to help their neighbors who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. While the project is having a positive impact on the community, it is also having a positive effect on the young voluteers by providing a sense of connection during this time of social isolation.

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Rural California Transit Agency Reinvents Itself During COVID

Carl Smith

August 31, 2020 |

Governing |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

The coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced the ridership of the Monterey-Salinas Transit District, so the system shifted services to help the mostly rural community it serves. Despite cash-flow problems, unused drivers and vehicles helped Meals on Wheels deliver 8,000 meals to seniors and persons with disabilities, wi-fi-enabled commuter buses parked in rural areas to provide hot spots for students, and the system donated unused vehicles to groups serving veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and at-risk youth. The system continues to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances.

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Project Uses AI to Maximize Meal Delivery to Students in Need

Ben Levine

August 27, 2020 |

Government Technology |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

Using AI technology, home address data, and algorithms, the Metro21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon was able to find the best school bus routes to deliver school meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution wouldn’t have worked with the help of a community of partners, leaders, and volunteers. “It truly has taken a village.”

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The Forgotten Stones That Still Inspire Turks to Help Their Neighbors

Jennifer Hattam

August 24, 2020 |

Atlas Obscura |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Turkey, Istanbul

Building on a history of anonymous charity, a mosque in northern Istanbul started a pop-up communal food bank to help those most impacted by the pandemic. The initiative is one of several mutual aid efforts underway in the municipality, with each paying homage to the nation's historical use of a charity stone - a place where "people who had money would leave some on top of the stone, and those who didn’t would take some, according to their need."

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A culturally inclusive food bank is ‘Feeding el Pueblo'

Agueda Pacheco Flores

August 19, 2020 |

Crosscut |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Alimentando el Pueblo (Feeding el Pueblo) is a pop-up food bank, started in response to Covid-19, that offers food staples for Latinx dishes. A Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean food box option, with 12 lbs. of fresh food, is filled with food from local farmers and markets, and funded by a GoFundMe account. Families can get a box every two weeks and the food bank has given food to 198 families, or about 936 people. The culturally relevant food has been an important source of comfort and support for many community members, particularly people who are prohibited from accessing federal assistance.

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Health care institutions, nonprofits team up to battle hunger and the pandemic

Janelle Nanos

August 15, 2020 |

The Boston Globe |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, a local health care institution has teamed up with a handful of community-based organizations to help those who are facing food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic. The program includes screening patients who come in with COVID-19 symptoms also for food insecurity and then placing those who are high-risk on a grocery delivery schedule so that they can "recover safely at home," rather than wait in lines at the food pantry where they could potentially spread the virus.

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