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06/13/2013 by Patrick Delhougne | Comments (0)
ISBA President John E. Thies, Lawyers Feeding Illinois Chair Terry Thies, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and St. Louis Area Foodbank President & CEO Frank Finnegan.
In the past few years, we've been fortunate to partner with the law community in the bi-state area on several great projects.
In the September 2011 issue of St. Louis Lawyer, Dale Joerling and Robert J. Wagner, both of Thompson Coburn LLP, published "How local charities can benefit from your cy pres settlements." The article detailed a unique way lawyers have contributed to St. Louis Area Foodbank—through settlements that requires cy pres distribution. Cy pres is French, meaning "as close as possible." When a gift is made by will or trust (usually for charitable or educational purposes), and the named recipient of the gift does not exist, has dissolved, or no longer conducts the activity for which the gift is made, then the estate or trustee must make the gift to an organization which comes closest to fulfilling the purpose of the gift. Recently, cy pres has been used in class action lawsuits where it is difficult to locate the intended beneficiaries (class members). Whatever the reason, courts often must decide who, if anyone, should receive the unclaimed benefits.
In October 2012, President & CEO of St. Louis Area Foodbank, Frank Finnegan, was presented with a Spirit of Justice Award at the St. Louis Bar Foundation's 5th Annual Golden Gala.
Then, in early 2013, we were supported by another great project conducted by the law community – Lawyers Feeding Illinois (LFI).
LFI was a competitive food and fund-raising campaign among lawyers and legal organizations across Illinois. The campaign supported the work of Feeding Illinois.
From February 18 - March 1, 2013, teams of lawyers competed to earn points by collecting food and funds. All donations were routed to local food banks based on zip codes, so contributions directly supported local communities.
Spearheaded by the Illinois State Bar Association, the LFI campaign was supported by the Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, as well as several law firms, law schools, judges and bar associations.
In the first year of campaign, nearly 100 teams donated enough resources to provide an estimated 3.8 million meals to families in Illinois.
One organization in our service territory, Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, was honored with the Best Government/Non-Profit Award!
The St. Louis Area Foodbank is one of eight food banks in the Feeding Illinois network that benefitted from the LFI campaign. We'd like to thank everyone who made the first year a success.
Donations from Lawyers Feeding Illinois help the St. Louis Area Foodbank serve families in the following 12 Illinois counties:
- Calhoun
- Jersey
- Madison
- St. Clair
- Monroe
- Randolph
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- Clinton
- Washington
- Perry
- Jackson
- Franklin
- Williamson
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Patrick Delhougne is the development associate at the St. Louis Area Foodbank.
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06/12/2013 by Melanie Hickcox | Comments (0)
The food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps put food on the table for more than 47 million low-income participants each month. When the number of families struggling to make ends meet increases, SNAP responds quickly and effectively to meet that need. The program serves as the nation’s first line of defense against hunger. If it is weakened, many millions of Americans will be harmed, including the elderly, people with disabilities, struggling parents (both working and unemployed), and children. The nation will see more hunger and food insecurity, worse health and educational outcomes.
The Senate passed a farm bill on June 10, 2013, cutting food stamps by $4 billion over a decade. The bill awaiting debate in the House calls for a $20 billion cut, the largest in a generation. Under this plan, some 2 million people would lose benefits. In addition to the farm bill SNAP cuts, the increase in SNAP benefits established by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) will come to an end on November 1, 2013. Every SNAP recipient will be affected by these across-the-board reductions.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that SNAP benefits not only keep a lot of people from going hungry, but they also help families purchase more nutritious foods. Close to half of the recipients of SNAP benefits also happen to be children. According to new Map the Meal Gap data released by Feeding America this week, there are over 312,000 food insecure children in Missouri.
From a policy perspective, there are many reasons to avoid making cuts to the program.
Nonprofit organizations cannot make up the difference in these proposed cuts. It is imperative to preserve and protect these vital programs. SNAP relieves pressure on overwhelmed food banks, pantries, religious congregations and other emergency food providers across the country who could not begin to meet the need for food assistance if SNAP eligibility or benefits were reduced.
Food stamps have a positive effect on the economy. Moody Analytics, in assessing the impact that food stamps have, estimates that for every dollar of food stamps spent, there is an increase of $1.73 in economic activity. Based on this report, the cuts to food stamps could actually weaken potential economic recovery.
Every time a family uses SNAP benefits to put healthy food on the table, many sources benefit. These sources include the store that sells the product, the employees of the store where the purchase was made, the truck driver who delivered the food to the store, the warehouses that store the food before it is delivered, the plant that processed the food, and the farmer who produced the food.
We need to protect and strengthen nutrition programs and policies that shield vulnerable, low-income Americans from hunger. In order to meet the goal of ending child hunger, obesity, and poverty it is important to support SNAP instead of limiting its ability to help struggling families afford healthy foods.
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06/07/2013 by Frank Finnegan | Comments (0)
The St. Louis Foodbank operates a Transitional Housing Program for people moving from a local shelter into their own residence.
We know it’s hard to scrape together the funds to pay a month’s rent, not to mention the utility down payments, security fees, etc.
To help with those one time additional costs, we provide a 30-day supply of food and other household items. Everyone needs a little help at some point, or at least some guidance.
Judy and I created our own transitional housing program with our daughter. After graduating from Missouri State University, Shawn accepted a job as a travel director.
The position has taken Shawn to many exotic places, but it also required that she spend the vast majority of her time out of town. Therefore, there wasn’t much sense in moving her into an apartment.
Loving parents that Judy and I are, we told her she was welcome to live with us but she’d have to pay rent. The Finnegan family transitional housing program had two options.
Shawn’s first option was to pay $250 each month and her loving parents would thank her very much and spend it on meals, movies and entertainment. Her second option was to pay $500 each month and we would return the entire sum whenever she decided to move out.
Shawn paid us rent for three years before an overpowering urge to flee drove her out and now has her paying rent to complete strangers.
Looking back, I’m happy about two things. First, Shawn paid the higher sum. Second, Judy collected the monthly rent payments and dutifully put them in the bank. Eighteen months after moving out of her parents’ home, Shawn bought her own house with the down payment from our transitional housing program.
Judy and I are in an enviable position. We have college educations, we both work and we’re able to live within our means. We have one child who successfully navigated the tumultuous years from 16 to 25. That seems to be the decade when parents everywhere pray their children don’t make one really stupid decision that could forever change their lives for the worse.
We know that circumstances beyond our control happen every day. A serious illness, a car accident, a lost job – so many things could start a spiral down that suddenly gets out of control.
Shelters are full of people who fell into that downward spiral. They certainly never planned on being in a shelter.
I’m thankful the Foodbank’s Transitional Housing Program can be there to help these folks down on their luck; just as I’m thankful Judy and I were able to help Shawn.
Everyone – at one time or another – needs a chance for a new start…a fresh beginning.
St. Louis Area Foodbank President and CEO Frank Finnegan first shared a version of this story in the March 2013 Tablesetter newsletter.
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06/05/2013 by Ryan Farmer | Comments (0)
The first time I came across comedian John Mulaney was back in 2008. He was on a show called “Best Week Ever” on VH-1.
On the show, a group of comedians spent a half hour making witty comments about the happenings of pop culture in the “week that was.”
Since 2008, I’ve seen Mulaney on my TV several times - in a few appearances during the Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live and on various late night talk shows.
I caught his Comedy Central special, “New In Town,” last year and felt like I was starting to hear his name more and more.
So when we were looking for a headliner for this year’s “Hunger Is No Laughing Matter” benefit for the St. Louis Area Foodbank, I immediately thought of Mulaney. He’s a rare combination for a comedian – funny and well-known, but not too blue or risqué.
In fact, when we asked our Social Media Avengers for suggestions on comedians, Avenger Nick Sargent from Standing Partnership asked, “have you ever heard of this guy, John Mulaney?”
Nick’s suggestion validated my premise that Mulaney was a comic on the rise.
It was around that time that I discovered that John had been asked to shoot a pilot sitcom loosely based on his life for NBC.
Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live fame was executive producing the show and it seemed like by the time our event came around in August, Mulaney’s career would be on fire.
As it turns out, NBC decided to pass on Mulaney.
Still, a passed-over sitcom doesn’t change my belief that Mulaney is one of the most talented young comedians in the country. Clearly, I’m not alone in my opinion.
Click here to read Elise Czajkowski’s editorial about John and his show on Splitsider.com.
I encourage everyone to come see what I’m talking about on Saturday, August 17, 2013 at The Pageant. I’m positive you’ll agree that Mulaney is worth seeing in person.
The Foodbank has an internet pre-sale running through 10 p.m. Thursday June 6, 2013. Tickets go on-sale to the public through all Ticketmaster outlets this Friday, June 7, 2013 at 10 a.m.
Here’s the link - http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/06004ABEA7B870C0. The pre-sale password is: Foodbank.
Last year’s event with Mike Birbiglia and Greg Warren was a huge success for the Foodbank and we’re hoping this year’s event will be even better.
Get your tickets today!
Ryan Farmer is the communications manager at the St. Louis Area Foodbank
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05/31/2013 by Bethany Prange | Comments (1)
The first Wine, Women & Shoes to benefit the St. Louis Area Foodbank was a smashing success!
Thank you to everyone who spent the evening helping to feed families in need. You make our mission possible and we couldn't do it without you!
See more pictures on our Facebook page...
In all, we sold 346 tickets to the event! All those guests – plus our bevy of volunteers from Monsanto and Best Buy - spent a wonderful evening at the Ritz-Carlton where they sipped fabulous wines and shopped the latest fashions.
The totals are still coming in, but so far, it looks like we will have surpassed our first-year goal in fundraising! At the Foodbank, 97 cents of every dollar donated goes to hunger relief. So just imagine how many people we can feed with the profits from this great event!
What’s better than having a good time for a good cause!
If you were there, look for your pics on our Facebook page and tag yourself! If you weren’t there, be prepared to want to be at WWS next year!
Check out our photo album of the night on Facebook >
Special thanks to our sponsors: Monsanto Co., Boeing, Husch-Blackwell, Bryan Cave LLP, ConAgra Foods, Charter Business and the Ladue News. We’d also like to thank our volunteers, the Shoe Guys, Vin de Set, our vintner partners and our fashion partners!
Bethany Prange is the communications coordinator at the St. Louis Area Foodbank.