Understanding Childhood Hunger – Every Child Deserves To Thrive

Hungry children cannot thrive. Yet millions of kids in America are at risk of going hungry. Share Our Strength is changing that.

Every parent knows that a hungry child is a disadvantaged child. He can’t grow, develop and learn like other kids. She has trouble focusing and getting along. They complain often of headaches, stomachaches and other ailments. They fall behind in virtually every way.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There is plenty of nutritious food in America to make sure every child grows up healthy and thrives. What’s missing is access to this food. If families don’t have reliable access to healthy, affordable food, they can’t possibly feed their children well.

Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry^® strategy provides that access to families all across the nation, so that every child, regardless of circumstances, can get the healthy food they need to thrive.

Solutions – Food-Focused Fundraisers Engage and Raise Millions

Food events are the cornerstone of Share Our Strength’s fundraising efforts. Each year, they engage millions of people across America in Share Our Strength’s solution to childhood hunger.

All of them – Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, Great American Bake Sale, Dine Out for No Kid Hungry (formerly Great American Dine Out), A Tasteful Pursuit and a growing collection of localized dinners and festivals – raise funds to support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

The campaign provides leadership, raises awareness and advocates for change that will make sure no kid in America ever goes hungry.

Locally, these funds help Share Our Strength build partnerships that bring together public officials, nonprofits, community and faith-based groups, private funders and businesses to develop a measurable plan that will end childhood hunger in a particular state or city.

Through No Kid Hungry, Share Our Strength also funds the most effective anti-hunger organizations in their work to connect families with the nutritious food they need.

Join us in making No Kid Hungry the reality in America September 18-24 for the fourth annual DINE OUT for NO KID HUNGRY! Enjoy a three course menu for $22 knowing that the proceeds from your meal go to support this worthy cause.

Jeff Breslow’s Long Trail Walk- 272 Miles for Bladder Cancer

UPDATE 7/27/11: A Thank You From Jeff

Hello to all of my wonderful contributors.

Thanks to your generosity, we have surpassed our original goal and stand now with a total of $50,004.  WOW! And I know we will keep going even beyond this number.

I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for your amazing support. What has been so special to me (in addition to the amount) is that 31% of the people I reached out to have responded with donations to BCAN.  In the world of fund raising, that’s an overwhelming number.

Gene, David, and particularly I thank you for your commitment to this cause and all who suffer with this bladder cancer.

With Ginna’s help, I have a blog you can follow as I move along on my journey.  I’ll be sending in pictures and posts along the way so check in and send me your comments too. The blog link is www.jeffreybreslow.blog.com

Yesterday afternoon Gene and I taped a segment for WGN-TV about bladder cancer, BCAN and my trek.  The segment is “Chicago’s Very Own” and hosted by Micah Materre and will be AIRED THIS FRIDAY on WGN’s 9:00PM NEWS.  Hope you can watch or tape it.  The WGN producer on the segment, Lauren, is an intern journalism student from University of Indiana who lost her 61-year old mother to bladder cancer two months ago.  Gene knew Lauren’s mother through his work with BCAN.

Finally I’m down to the wire.  I arrive in Williamstown, MA on Monday and begin hiking into Vermont on Tuesday.  My training is complete, 510 mountain miles in the past six months.  Tell you how crazy I am, two nights ago I set up my tent on our outdoor deck and slept outside.  I was trying out different sleeping pads and wanted to make sure I was choosing the right one.

During the course of my training I have become intimate with my boots and backpack.  They will be with me for every one of the million steps I will take on this journey.  I have two pairs of identical boots, each broken in with about 150 miles.  I will switch to the second pair halfway when we arrive at our home in Rochester, VT.  I have packed and emptied my backpack numerous times trying to reduce the weight.  Instead of taking 3 toothpicks, I have reduced it to one.  (You think I’m kidding!)

My pack will weigh between 25-30 lbs. depending on how much water I’m carrying.  There are numerous streams along the way where we can filter and refill.  I have shipped packs of food and clean clothes to the inns and B & B’s where we’ll be staying along the way to resupply and have something clean to put on after a hot (and much needed) shower.  I’m hiking with Jesse, a Vermont “Sherpa” who has done this before and agreed to DO IT AGAIN.  His pack will weigh about 40-50 lbs. but he’s 25 years old!

I can tell I’m excited because I’m hyper and rambling.  Think of me during August when you’re taking a daily hot bath or shower, when you are enjoying that superb glass of wine with a fine dinner and sleeping in your comfortable bed.  But KNOW that I’m going to be having the adventure of a lifetime and will be thinking of you and all the others who have been so supportive.

OK… Bla…Bla…Bla. Enough!

xoxoxo

Jeffrey

This August, Jeffrey Breslow will hike the 272-mile Long Trail in Vermont, starting at the border of Massachusetts and ending at the border of Canada. He is taking on this walk and requesting charitable donations in honor of his brother Gene and his dear friend, both of whom have suffered from bladder cancer. The entire trek will take nearly the entire month of August, camping out most nights along the way and staying at inns when available. It will require approximately a million steps to finish.

The Long Trail is the oldest hiking trail in the U.S., blazed around 1910. It winds through pristine forests and across ridges of the glorious Green Mountain Range after which Vermont is named. For the first 100 miles – from Massachusetts to Killington, Vermont – it coincides with the Appalachian Trail, which Jeff hopes to tackle in the future.

Jeff’s goal is to raise $50,000 for BCAN, through charitable donations, in support of efforts to raise awareness and find a cure. To learn more about how you can support his efforts, visit his FirstGiving page. His brother, Gene Breslow, has been an incredible supporter of BCAN as the chair of the Medical Outreach Volunteers for the past three years.

Thank you, Jeff and Gene, for everything you have done to support BCAN and raise money for bladder cancer!

We wish you the best of luck in your walk.