Tag Archives: Numana

Food Insecurity, Hunger, make a difference, Reflections

Who am I on this Hunger Awareness journey?

Each of our journeys with hunger is unique. What brought us to passionately want to eradicate hunger is equally so. For me, in the autumn of 2009, I was finding my land legs in my new home at Wichita State University. I joined the faculty here in August 2007 as a professor in the Elliott School of Communication, and the Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Chair in Strategic Communication. After more than 20 years in Nevada, I had forgotten that it takes a while to acclimate to a new place, but after 1 ½ years, I was feeling pretty settled. My daughter was doing well in school. I was learning the university. It was time to look outside our personal journeys and find something that would feed our souls, something that would allow us to make a positive difference.

The door that opened that autumn was to Numana, Inc.  and I have been committed to this organization ever since.  A colleague asked me to review some early press releases and media articles and offer suggestions. Not being a journalist, I agreed, hesitantly, but also offered to run it by my journalism colleagues. (This is one of the benefits for a social scientist of working in an integrated school of communication. If I don’t have the skills, someone else does.) I gave my feedback on content and my colleague Eric Wilson gave his on format. I was hooked. Rick McNary, founder and CEO of Numana told a compelling story of hungry children in Nicaragua and the idea of starting a “feed children in schools program”.  Children, schools, food… I was in.

My daughter, her youth group, my son, some of my graduate students,  and I took part in the first ever Numana packaging event in El Dorado, Kansas. Almost 4000 volunteers packaged more than 285,000 meals for Haiti that weekend. It was fun, exciting, and invigorating! What was unique about Numana’s effort to “empower people to save the starving” was the hands-on nature of their events. Volunteers rolled up their sleeves, donned plastic aprons, gloves and shower caps and mixed, packaged and prepared the food for shipment to Salvation Army schools in Haiti.  At tables of 12-14 volunteers, rice, soy, freeze dried vegetables, and a 21 vitamin/mineral tablet, a diet specifically designed for the metabolism of people who are starving, were measured into 6-serving bags, vacuum sealed, packed 36 to a box, and loaded on a truck, The truck would carry the food to Norfolk, Virginia, where it would be shipped by boat to Haiti. The food was expected to arrive in 6-8 weeks. Then the earthquake hit and the situation was so much more severe. Our food was airlifted in by the U.S. 82nd Airborne as some of the first food to reach Haiti following the earthquake.

Superbowl weekend, 2010, I hosted WSU Feeds Haiti, again with my daughter and a group of amazing students. Over 3000 volunteers packaged more than 641,000 meals that weekend. I continued to go to events, to offer my support, and in the first year, more than 125,000 volunteers nationwide packaged over 21 million meals at Numana events.

People want to do things that matter, that make a difference, just as I did.

Now my focus has expanded. After the Kansas Hunger Dialogue last March, I also want to understand hunger on the local level. I wanted to know if there’s a problem here on the WSU campus. I believe there is. Again, I brought together students, this time in a Health Communication Seminar, to understand the nature and scoop of hunger and food insecurity on our campus. The response has been phenomenal. Campus-wide support and interest has simply poured in.

On our website, http://wsuhunger.wordpress.com, you will be able to follow the journeys of each of the 8 students in our class. Our goal is to understand and to empower the change that is needed on our campus. This class is, for me, a way to teach what I practice, to use communication capacity, and skills, to empower others. Personally, it also keeps me on my journey to choose to do things that make a difference. I invite you to join us on this journey!

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make a difference, Uncategorized

WSU – Feed Haiti info – How you can help!

WSU 1 MILLION meal food packaging event!!!!!

Come help WSU and NumanaInc feed the starving in Haiti! The response of SE Kansas to the need to get food to the people of Haiti since the earthquake has been astounding. We have packaged and airlifted over 2,000,000 meals. Come be a part of helping us make that 3,000,000. February 5-7, WSU will be staging a 1 MILLION meal food packaging event at the Hughes Metroplex.

How can you help?

VOLUNTEER TO PACKAGE FOOD

PACKAGE FOOD – at http://www.Numanainc.com and select “volunteer” at the top of the home page. Follow instructions from there.

1) SIGN UP IN ADVANCE

Please assume that it will take you about ½ hour to get processed, so plan to arrive in advance of your packaging time.

If you are a member of a group (12-14 people) who would like to come and package together, sign up at Numanainc.com. Please plan to arrive ½ hour prior to your designated packaging time to get register and get prepared.  We cannot take a group to a table until ALL members are present!  Your clock to package begins when the last member of your party arrives.

2) JUST SHOW UP WHEN IT’S CONVENIENT FOR YOU – our packaging hours for this event are 8-8 Friday and Saturday (Feb. 5 & 6) 1-8 Sunday (Feb. 7)

Come to the main door of the Hughes Metroplex and our greeters will get you registered and prepared to Feed the Starving!

Please assume that it will take you about ½ hour to get processed. We will get you to a table as quickly as we can!

DONATE

DONATE – at http://www.Numanainc.com and select “donate” at the top of the home page. Follow instructions from there.

The food we are sending to Haiti costs 30 cents per meal to buy, package, ship and deliver. Numana partners with the Salvation Army and currently the U.S. Military to get food quickly to areas of need in Haiti.

1) BUY IT; PACKAGE IT; SEND IT – NEW FOR WSU EVENT!

You can sign up as a group or organization (10-14 people) and sponsor your own table. An average table can package between 10 & 12 boxes in an hour at a cost of $648 – $778. Your group donates the money and packages the food. You buy it, you package it, you send it!

2) SPONSOR A TABLE – NEW FOR WSU EVENT!

Would your business or organization like to sponsor a table at the WSU event? Your name, banner, poster will be posted on the table you sponsor for the duration of your sponsorship time. Volunteers who package at your table will be told the food they are packaging was provided by your organization.

1 hour = $1000

½ day (6 hours) = $6000

1 day (12 hours) = $12,000

WSU event (30 hours) = $30,000

3) CORPORATE SPONSOR – NEW FOR WSU EVENT!

Would your corporation, business, or organization like to partner with WSU on this event?

3 levels of partnership:

Event co-sponsor: $300,000 (the cost of 1 MILLION meals)

Platinum partnership: $100,000

Gold partnership: $50,000

Silver partnership: $25,000

Bronze partnership: $10,000

3) BUY MEALS

The chart below shows how many people your donation will feed:

100 people: $30.00
216 people (one box of food): $65.00
1,000 people: $300.00
2,000 people: $600.00
5,000 people: $1,500.00
7,128 people (one full pallet): $2,145.00
285,120 people (one full container): $85,536.00

GREEN SHIRT VOLUNTEER

GREEN SHIRT VOLUNTEER – sign up for 4 hour shifts at http://www.Numanainc.com. Plan to arrive ½ hour before your shift begins for preparation, orientation and assignment. In addition to regular shifts, we need set up and tear down teams. Set up will be Thursday (Feb. 4 from 1-8 at the Hughes Metroplex.

Training for new green shirts will be Thursday (Feb. 4) from 6-8 pm at the Hughes Metroplex.

If you are a new green shirt and cannot come to the Feb. 4 training, please arrive 1 hour prior to your start time for training.

Green shirts will be asked to purchase their t-shirts for $10

There are two groups you can sign up for:

1) Product management team – tasks listed below:

Runners: supply replacement product for assigned tables
Product Prep: unload product; fill bins; remove bags to trash can; must be able to lift 50 lbs.
Product Distribution: distribute product for runners via cart; remove filled boxes from tables; must be able to lift 50 lbs.
Loaders: load boxes to pallet, shrink wrap; take to truck; load; must be able to lift 50 lbs.

2) Floor management team – tasks listed below:

Registration: greet and sign in volunteers; manage crowds
Hostess: greet volunteers; distribute aprons and hairnets; assist staging coordinator
Staging Coordinators: prioritize and manage timely rotation of volunteers; assist traffic control
Traffic Control and scheduling: maintain table scheduling and rotation; maintain green shirt schedule
Table Seating: escort groups to table; liaison between table coordinators and traffic control; give shift-ending warnings
Table Coordinators: oversee packaging table; educate volunteers in packaging procedures; communicate with floaters and runners; clean up table and surrounding area; prepare and re-stock table
Floaters: replace table coordinators for breaks; assist table coordinators

GREEN SHIRT TIMES:

Set up: Thursday (Feb. 4)

Shift 1: 1 – 4pm

Shift 2: 4 – 8pm

Friday (Feb. 5)

Set up: 7am – 9am

Shift 1: 8am – 12pm

Shift 2: 12 – 4pm

Shift 3: 4 – 8pm

Prep shift: 7 – 9pm

Saturday (Feb. 6)

Set up: 7am – 9am

Shift 1: 8am – 12pm

Shift 2: 12 – 4pm

Shift 3: 4 – 8pm

Prep shift: 7 – 9pm

Sunday (Feb. 7)

Set up: 12 – 2pm

Shift 1: 1 – 5

Shift 2: 5 – 9pm (includes 1 hour of tear down)

Tear down crew: 8 – 10pm

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Uncategorized

SE Kansas for Haiti! Packaging meals at Kansas Coliseum!

I am SO proud of my adopted state! In less that one month people in SE Kansas have packaged over 1,300,000 meals for Haiti. Over 500,000 meals have already been packaged today at the KS Coliseum!!! That’s a one day best! We need to package another 500,000 to meet our weekend goal of 1,000,000! Please come take part! We can do this!

The estimate is the people of Haiti will need food for at least the next 3 months and 10 days after the devastating earthquake they are still pulling people alive from the rubble.

If you don’t have time to package food, please visit the Numana website at http://www.numanainc.com to donate. Meals cost 30 cents each and every donation helps us continue or efforts to feed the starving!

Way to go Kansas!

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make a difference

1 MILLION meals for Haiti event @ WSU 2/5-7

I, like many of you, have watched the horrors unfold as the reality of the devastation in Haiti becomes overwhelmingly apparent. If you are like me, you want to do something tangible. The three most critical needs right now are medical supplies, food and water. I am writing to offer you an opportunity to do something tangible to help people who are starving. On Friday – Sunday, February 5-7, I am coordinating a 1 MILLION meal food packaging event sponsored by WSU and the Elliott School of Communication and in collaboration with Numana Inc at WSUs Hughes Metroplex. Numana is the organization that has been hosting the food packaging events at the El Dorado Civic Center. Some of you may have even taken part in those events. (If you have, I invite you to consider being a part of my elite coordination team.) Numana partners with the Salvation Army which delivers the food to the U.S. military which airlifts it into Haiti. Some of the food we packaged last weekend in El Dorado is already on the ground and Numana was featured on both Glen Beck’s show and The Today Show. I am writing to you today to ask for your help and support. I know that many of you, like me, desire to “make a difference”. This is an opportunity to do just that.

There are a number of opportunities available to help:

1) You can donate money to purchase the food we will pack, a mix of rice, soy, dried veggies and a 21 vitamin/mineral tablet designed to meet the nutritional needs and support the immune systems of people who are starving. Donate at Numanainc.com

2) On Thursday afternoon/evening, Feb 4, we need to unload all the food and prepare the room for the next day. That evening we will also have training for the elite coordination team so that we all have the opportunity to practice before the event begins the next day. You can sign up to help with the pre-event work, to be on the elite team, to package food, etc. at Numanainc.com. Just indicate what you would like to do and when in the comment section.

3) If you belong to a group or organization, you can reserve a full table (12-14 people) for two hours and package. IT’S SUCH A FUN AND LIGHT-HEARTED ATMOSPHERE. PEOPLE FEEL GOOD WHEN THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING THAT MATTERS. You can, of course, reserve more than one table, or work longer than 2 hours if we want to. You can sign up for whatever you want to do.

4) If you don’t have 12-14 people who can take part at the same time, no biggie, you can sign up a smaller group for a two hour period (or as long as we wish) and work together on a table

5) You can sign up yourself, or just drop in to package food. We’ll fit you in and show you how!

6) If you saw fit, you could “sponsor” a table for a period of time. The estimate is that a fast moving table can package about $1000 worth of food in one hour. You could sponsor a table for an hour or two and, if you wanted, also pack the food you sponsor.

7) Many businesses match donations or have PR divisions that are looking for community engagement opportunities. If your business matches donations or would like to become a corporate sponsor of this event, please let me know!

8) On Sunday night, we will also need a post-event team to tear down after the event.

9) If you’d like to be part of the elite coordination team, what Numana calls “green shirts” (because we wear green. That will mean a longer commitment and your willingness to play a coordinating function).

Numana has announced the largest event yet for this coming Saturday and Sunday at the KS Coliseum. In addition to the opportunity to package food like in prior events, they are also offering opportunities for people to be trained as “green team” (our elite coordination team) members. You can sign up to be trained in any area that interests you and practice at the KS Coliseum event this weekend Saturday, Jan. 23 (8am to 6pm) & Sunday, January 24 (1-7pm). If you sign up to help at the Coliseum, please make sure to put WSU team in the comment section if you’d like to help with the WSU event also. You can also sign up for the WSU event and donate to purchase food at Numanainc.com.

However you decide to be involved, know that you are providing food to people in desperate conditions. I invite you to join me in making a difference.  If you are personally unable to help, please pass this information on to others who might be interested. We estimate that we will need 3000 people to meet our goal of packaging 1 MILLION meals in 2 1/2 days!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment on this blog.

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make a difference

FOOD PACKAGING EVENT FOR HAITI – Jan. 15 & 16, 2010 El Dorado Kansas Civic Center

As many of you know on Dec. 29 & 30, I, along with my children, students, friends, my daughter’s youth group and about 1000 other Kansans took part in a food packaging event at the El Dorado Civic Center to feed hungry children in Haiti.  In under 48 hours we packaged over 285,000 meals That food is on its way but won’t reach Haiti until mid-February.  After yesterday’s devastating earthquake, that is too late!

So, Numana Inc. is sponsoring another food packaging event this weekend at the El Dorado Civic Center and the food will be airlifted to Haiti. There are two ways you can help. Both involve going to the http://www.Numanainc.com website. There you can volunteer to help package the food, a nutritious mix of rice, soy, dried veggies and a vitamin/mineral tablet designed to meet the nutrition needs of starving people or you can donate money to buy food. Packaging times are in 2 hour shifts from noon to 10 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

One question that has arisen is whether or not international aid organizations have the infrastructure and capacity to meet critical needs. The Salvation Army, Numana’s partner in food delivery already has an established network, on the ground to get food to people immediately.

In times of crisis, we all want to know what we can do to help. In this case, our donations and time will directly, tangibly, and immediately impact hungry people impacted by this natural disaster. Join me in helping hungry people in Haiti!  Stay tuned for further information on this and developing events to support the people of Haiti!

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Uncategorized

‘Tis the Season!: Help Numana Feed Hungry Children in Haiti

I’m returning to some roots today with this blog post. Shortly after starting this blog in March, 2009 I decided I wanted to focus on opportunities to “make a difference”. Today I write about an event in El Dorado, Kansas that will take place from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. December 29 and 30, 2009. The objective is to pack 285,125 meals for hungry children in Haiti. Numana, Incorporated, the organization behind this effort is hoping for enough meals to fill a 40 foot shipping container. Headed by President and CEO, Rick McNary, Numana, an international hunger relief organization, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity founded in August, 2008. The meals we pack in El Dorado will be distributed by the Salvation Army to feed children in Haitian schools.

The meals contain soy protein, freeze-dried veggies, rice and a vitamin/mineral supplement targeted to the immune systems of malnourished children. Ingredients are measured, weighed, sealed, boxed and prepared for shipment.

My daughter Alyssa and I went to a practice packing event several weeks ago and we had a blast! We worked alongside volunteers from age 8 to 80. The environment was light hearted, positive, supportive, and fun for all ages. There’s nothing like hanging out with people energized about making a difference, especially at this time of year!

So, if you have time to give (you can sign up for two hour shifts or stay longer), My daughter Alyssa, my son Stefan, some of my Wichita State University students and I be there full time both days; if you would like to purchase some meals (we currently have donations to cover 152,500 meals ((about 53% of our goal))at 30 cents per meal), or if you just want to learn more about Numana, visit their website at: http://www.numanainc.com or call Rick McNary at (877)452-5445 for more information. To volunteer, click on the volunteer button at the top of the home page. To donate, click on the donate button.

Want to spread the cheer of the season to hungry children in Haiti? Bring your family, friends, youth group, church group, office mates, etc. and join us in this high energy, “make a difference” event!

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