Share Our Strength: Taste of the Nation San Francisco

No Kid Hungry.

Boobs4Food SF is thrilled to volunteer at Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation event in San Francisco on Thursday April 29, 2010 at AT&T Park. Taste of the Nation events are happening all across the country, with the mission of ending childhood hunger.

Over 40 of San Francisco Bay Area’s finest chefs, wineries & bartenders are participating at this year’s event, by donating their time, talent & passion.  100% of ticket sales supports Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger.  Proceeds from this year’s Taste of the Nation San Francisco will support three amazing local organizations: FoodRunners.org, Playworks.org & Children of Shelter.

For a complete list of participating chefs, restaurants & wineries, click here.

Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry

In 2004, Share Our Strength developed its national strategy to end childhood hunger in America. This strategy focuses on long-term solutions that support access to nutritious foods and healthy choices—the difference between feeding a family tonight and ensuring that they never have to worry about when their next meal will come. It is designed to bridge the gaps between existing, effective programs and the families who need them. Learn More »

At its core are three sensible goals:

• Increase access to public and private programs that provide food to children and their families.
• Strengthen community infrastructure and systems that connect children to healthy food.
• Improve knowledge about available programs and how to get the most from limited resources.

How We Share Our Strength

Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $70 million. Funds from Taste of the Nation are directly invested in the most successful organizations committed to ending childhood hunger in America. Working with state and local organizations across America, we implement our national childhood hunger strategy as well as its supporting 10-point plan. Learn more about our childhood hunger strategy and 10 point plan »

Internationally, Taste of the Nation has raised 85% of the more than $10.3 million Share Our Strength has granted to organizations. We focus our efforts in four priority countries, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Haiti and Mexico, that are working toward sustainable solutions to underdevelopment, poverty and hunger.

More information regarding the local organization benefiting from Taste of the Nation San Francisco 2010:

FoodRunners.org

The mission of Food Runners is to help alleviate hunger in San Francisco to help prevent waste and to help create community. Food Runners is a California 501.C3 Corporation – with a Board of Directors and an Advisory Committee made up of concerned individuals from throughout our community.

Food Runners is currently delivering approximately 10 tons of food a week that would otherwise be thrown away. With help from our volunteer coordinator, our paid truck driver and people like you, we can provide enough food for 2,000 meals a day in San Francisco.

We recently volunteered with FoodRunners on the Divisadero/Grove Farmers Market route. It was raining cats, dogs & orangutans but that didn’t stop the market vendors from donating their produce & baked goods. Barely any room was left in our trunk space & back seat, as we piled in bags & bags of farm fresh produce, baguettes & mountains of baked goods. We’re definitely coming back.

Playworks.org

The Playworks Mission: To improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that supports learning by providing safe, healthy and inclusive play and physical activity to schools at recess and throughout the entire school day.

Playworks currently provides on-site program coordinators, or coaches, to 170 schools in 10 cities across the nation. We serve more than 70,000 students at low-income, urban schools every school day. If you don’t see us nearby, click here to learn how to bring Playworks to your city.

Children of Shelter

Children of Shelters’ mission is to provide for the educational and emotional needs of the estimated 4,000 children living in or being served by transitional shelters in San Francisco. As advocates of the children we serve, we are committed to addressing both their basic and more in-depth needs. By funding tutoring, activities that enhance self-esteem, and college tuition assistance, our grants support their academic achievement and character development. Ultimately, we believe education and self-esteem are keys to breaking the cycle of poverty for children.

COS raises funds to implement and underwrite programs for children in transition and in shelter, including:

• Summer camp
• College and secondary school tuition assistance
• Back-to-school clothing and educational materials
• One-on-one tutoring
• Cultural experiences, such as musicals, plays, sporting events and museums
• Empowerment opportunities with mentors and/or resources
• Support for talent and skills of individual children such as music lessons, sports, etc.
• Special holiday programs, picnics and other family events
• DrawBridges, an art program designed for therapy for youth

In addition, COS has awarded grants to fund more “macro” initiatives in 2008/9:

• The SF Unified School District’s Educational Empowerment Program, which helps homeless/transitional students with special needs be more quickly identified.
• Tuition assistance at both the elementary and college level. Currently, we fund scholarships at Star of the Sea, UCSB and Columbia University.

All info taken from:

Share Our Strength http://www.strength.org/

Food Runners http://foodrunners.org/

Playworks http://www.playworks.org/

Children of Shelter http://www.cos-sf.org/index2.php

See you at AT&T Park!

-Team Boobs4Food