It’s once again time for The Great Minnesota Give Together—the third annual Give to the Max Day. Next Wednesday, thousands of people from around the state of Minnesota will join together to donate online in support of their favorite charities.

We’re excited to announce that we’re again featuring a matching fund of more than $100,000 thanks to The Mosaic Company and a small group of generous individuals. And new this year, if you make a gift of $100 or more, we’ll send you a hand-colored postcard from a child who benefits from one of our programs. Check out the video below which features the kids in action.

Last year, the contributions made to Second Harvest Heartland on Give to the Max Day were enough to provide 1.3 million meals to our hungry neighbors right here in the heartland. With your help, we can provide even more this year.

To help you remember to Give to the Max, sign up to receive an email next Wednesday morning so you don’t forget.

Help us do even better this year…Give to the Max!

There’s still time to get your tickets for the Taste of the Vikings, the annual event hosted by the Taste of the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings. This exciting event gives you the chance to help kick childhood hunger while mingling with current and former Minnesota Vikings players and sampling great food from some of the finest restaurants in the Twin Cities! Check out photos from last year’s event below.

Those who attend the Taste of the Vikings will help support Second Harvest Heartland and the Vikings Children’s Fund Summer Lunch Program in providing much-needed meals for Minnesota children next summer.

Don’t miss out on this unique experience! Call 952.918.8405 to get your tickets to the Taste of the Vikings today.

These tough economic conditions are hard on so many people throughout our communities, but for older Americans with low or fixed incomes, it can be a serious struggle. Seniors often fall into patterns of eating less to make their dollars go further, and those that have limited mobility or access to transportation are forced to spend more money for less food in small markets and convenience stores. And many older Americans don’t take advantage of the program available to them, such as SNAP (Food Support or Food Stamps).

To bring awareness to the prevalence of senior hunger and to provide resources for our older neighbors in need, Second Harvest Heartland has teamed with UnitedHealthcare and WCCO-TV during the month of October.

There are programs and resources available, but asking for help can be difficult. And many individuals aren’t even aware of some of the programs for which they are eligible. In the video below, our friend Gladys tells her personal story of her struggle with hunger and admits that pride was a barrier that she had to overcome in order to get the food she needed to live a healthy life.

For more information on senior hunger and to find local resources, click here.

Farm in the Cities is a new, fun and fresh event presented by Six Rivers Cooperative and participating restaurants. The event, hosted by Solera Restaurant, spotlights local farmers’ foods and the restaurants that serve them. The event was created as a way to educate and excite the public about sourcing and preparing farm-fresh food.

Join us on Sunday, October 30 to mingle with top-named chefs, enjoy appetizers and a delicious seven course dinner, all prepared by the chefs using locally grown products. Plus, you’ll get the chance to learn about the products used in the preparation of the meals, as well as support hunger-relief right here in our community.

Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind opportunity. Tickets can be purchased by calling Solera’s Jay Viskocil at 612-338-0062. Tickets are priced at $125, and all proceeds benefit Second Harvest Heartland.

For more information about the event, click here.

Last year, we introduced you to Henry and Dylan, two local boys who have been organizing a Food & Fund Drive in their Stillwater neighborhood for the past three years. Together, the young boys walked through their neighborhood and distributed 175 bags on their neighbors’ doorsteps with a goal of collecting 500 pounds of food—which they more than doubled! In total, they collected 1,600 pounds of food for our hungry neighbors!

Well, the boys are back, along with more kids, for the fourth annual Stillwater Neighborhood Food Drive. This year five Stillwater neighborhoods—Oak Glen, Settlers Glen, Inspiration, Highlands and South Hill—will get a chance to participate and to help provide much needed meals for our neighbors in need. They’ve also created an online donation page to help boost their efforts! (You can make a gift to their drive here.)

To show everyone how easy and fun it is to organize a Food & Fund Drive, the boys sent along two YouTube videos: “Look Like Fun? ” and “Join the Effort.”  Watch the boys in action in the cute and creative videos as they collect food for our hungry neighbors.

Every year, hundreds of groups hold Food & Fund Drives for Second Harvest Heartland. They range in size from a small collection at a neighborhood book club to large campaigns at companies and churches. Hosting a Food & Fund Drive is a simple and effective way to help in our fight against hunger.

Thanks again to Henry, Dylan and all the kids for their work in support of our efforts! You truly are making a difference in the lives of those in need.

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Stop by Mall of America to check out some amazing structures built from ordinary cans of food!

Canstruction is a national charity committed to ending hunger using one can as a catalyst for change through a unique design/build competition. Each year top design firms from the Twin Cities build enormous structures from cans of food and thousands of onlookers vote for their favorite.  But, most importantly, once the event is completed the structures are dissembled and the cans of food are donated to Second Harvest Heartland. Last year, teams used more than 15,000 cans of food, all of which was distributed to our neighbors in need.

Be there to cheer on designers, check out the structures and vote for your favorite.

For more details on how you can get involved, click here.

If you haven’t heard yet, the most recent edition of our newsletter is available online only. As an effort to reduce costs and put more of your generous gifts towards helping those in need, we’ve decided to print only two newsletters per year—our spring and fall editions. We’re excited to present the first digital-only copy of Stories of Hope. We hope you enjoy it! Click here to check out the current edition which includes stories about:

• The work of our dedicated volunteers
• Info on how to get involved with Hunger Action Month
• “The Friday Guys”—a group of guys who have collectively volunteered with us for over 20 years

September is Hunger Action Month, and you can help provide much-needed meals for those who count on us for support. In partnership with Cub Foods, Malt-O-Meal, Snapple and 5 Eyewitness News, we can make a difference.

Here are three easy ways you can take action this September:

1. Make a donation. Snapple is matching all online gifts up to $50,000! Donate now >>

2. Give a Little, Feed a Lot at Cub Foods. Make a cash donation at the register, or purchase a Cub Community Cupboard Bag that benefits your local food shelf. Find your local Cub store >>

3. Feed others, feed yourself.

For every Malt-O-Meal brand cereal or Better Oats brand instant oatmeal purchased during Hunger Action Month, the Malt-O-Meal Company will make a food donation, with a goal to donate one million servings of breakfast to families in Minnesota. Get your Malt-O-Meal brand cereal or Better Oats brand instant oatmeal at your local Cub store.

Also, Snapple and Grammy award-winning pop-rock band Maroon 5 have partnered to launch “Tea Will Be Loved” – a delicious blend of healthy green tea and tasty black tea with notes of pomegranate and berries. Purchases of the tea will benefit Feeding America. Inspired by the unique personalities of the band members and named for their smash-hit “She Will Be Loved,” this limited release Snapple tea will be available at participating retailers’ nationwide beginning in September. Get your bottle of “Tea Will Be Loved” at your local Cub store.

Watch the video PSA below and visit the Hunger Action Month MN website to learn more!

Today, Feeding America released the Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011 study which provides a detailed look into the number of children in America that are under the age of 18 that go hungry every year.

The study reveals that there are children struggling with hunger in every county in America. Nationally, while one in six Americans overall don’t have proper access to the food they need, the rate for children is much higher: nearly one in four children are at risk of hunger.

It also provides information on Second Harvest Heartland’s service area in which it found that there are more than 200,000 children under the age of 18 that are currently struggling with hunger.

Child hunger is simply unacceptable. The new information gained from this study will help us develop even more ways to improve our child hunger programs like the Summer Food Service Program which provides meals to children who may otherwise go hungry during the summer or the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides a box of nutritious food each month through the Mothers and Children Program (MAC).

For more details on this study check out the entire interactive map here.

“What’s so hard is watching families who are working so hard—they’re working jobs, they’re earning money, and their dollars just don’t go far enough.”

-Dr. Megan Sandel, Boston Medical Center

Last week, ABC World News issued a report on the prevalence of child hunger in America. At Second Harvest Heartland, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in need…and we know that today, 40% of the people we serve are children under the age of 18.  According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the number of children living in poverty in the U.S. is up nearly 20% from 2000.

Watch the video from ABC World News below, and as always, thank you for your support of hunger-relief for children and their families in our communities.