As we all know, more and more people are going hungry due to the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown at least 30 million people out of work to date.
As a result of unemployment and lost income, millions of people are suddenly being forced to choose between buying food plus basic essentials and paying bills. Because of this, Oxfam recently warned the world that the “hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic could potentially kill more people each day than the infection itself.”
Oxfam added that “an estimated 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to Covid-19 by the end of the year,” CNN reports.
COVID-19, however, is merely fueling the hunger crisis that had already existed pre-pandemic. In fact, a whopping “37.2 million people or 11.1 percent of all U.S. households lacked reliable access to enough food for a healthy standard of living” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as cited in this article. Today, however, that number has increased to “more than 42 million people or one out of every six Americans.”
But what can we do to help?
The good news is that there’s something we can do to help end hunger!
Adam4Adam is delighted to announce that it has partnered with AmpleHarvest.org, a nationwide nonprofit organization that makes it easy to connect home gardeners with local food pantries to donate fresh produce.
These gardeners grow enough *surplus* tomatoes, cucumber, squash, etc. to nourish 28 million hungry Americans, year after year.
Currently 8,731 AmpleHarvest.org food pantries across all 50 states in more than 4,100 communities can now receive a sustainable and recurring supply of freshly harvested, locally grown food (many for the first time) from area growers – for free!
This means that not only does AmpleHarvest.org help reduce hunger and malnutrition, they also help eliminate waste of food and improve our environment. Moreover, these fresh foods help fight poverty and improve communities’ health. We are pertaining to people who are living with diet-related diseases such as diabetes or obesity, those who are trying to improve their immune system to avoid COVID-19 or are recovering from it, and people living with chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS or hypertension do best with a healthier diet.
To understand the campaign better, watch Gary Oppenheimer—founder of AmpleHarvest.org— explain what they do, how it works, and how the campaign is actually helping fight climate change and protect the environment:
Exactly how far does your help go?
According to Gary, they are increasingly speaking about translating money to servings of healthy fresh food. He said, “As you can see, $5 would be 41 servings of fresh food for a hungry family. But the impact of that one $5 donation continues for years, so over a 20 year period, that $5 donation would have resulted in 12,325 servings worth $7,426.”
To better understand the impact of your financial support, read here and here. Also, check out these videos to see the ultimate impact of your support.
You can also watch Gary talk about how, by donating money instead of food, you can magnify your donation by ten times. He also explained in the video below how donating food to your local food drive can actually contribute to the hunger problem.
How do you donate to AmpleHarvest.org?
To donate, simply click this link guys. You can choose the amount you want to donate from $5, $10, or $25 to whatever amount that you prefer. You can also choose to donate one-time or monthly. Your donation doesn’t simply buy food to feed someone a meal but rather dramatically improves the entire food system to assure that hungry people get healthier food this year, and for years to come.
What are you waiting for? Hurry and join Adam4Adam in helping end hunger and poverty! Your donation will help put fresh food to the homes of COVID-19 impacted American families this year.
