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THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
AARP, Radio One encourage Americans to share personal stories of service
By Jacqueline Morrison
AARP and Radio One, the
nation’s largest radio broad- casting company that targets primarily African American and urban listeners, recently launched a collaboration to highlight everyday acts of good through “Create The Good News” segments.
Radio One listeners can
visit www.CreateTheGood-
News.org to submit inspira- tional stories about how they – or those they know – have made positive contributions to society. Through June 2010, “CBS NFL Today” co-host and AARP Community Ambassa- dor James “JB” Brown will select one story to highlight in a weekly “Create The Good News” series, airing nationally on Radio One stations.
“Service is an important
part of what knits our commu- nities together,” Brown said. “Every day in neighborhoods across the country, people are serving. But this good work doesn’t always make the news. We want folks to know that whether they have five minutes, five hours or five days, every bit makes a differ- ence. Hopefully these stories
nities. It is powered by AARP and the AARP Foundation’s more than nine million volun- teers, donors and activists.
“We are so pleased to work
with Create The Good to tell the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their communities,” said Cathy Hughes, Radio One founder and chairperson. “Too often our days are filled with negative news. We hope this new series will provide our listeners with a little bit of inspiration during these diffi- cult times and encourage all of us to do more to help others.”
CreateTheGood.org offers
Jacqueline Morrison
will inspire folks to get more involved in their communi- ties.”
Through June 2010, all
Americans can visit www.
CreateTheGoodNews.org to share their stories.
Create The Good (www.
CreateTheGood.org) is a net- work of people sharing tools and ideas to help make a dif- ference on their own or in larger groups in their commu-
local volunteer opportunities as well as ideas for self-di- rected activities and how-to videos for simple service proj- ects people can organize on their own, like weatherizing homes, starting healthy walk- ing groups, fighting fraud, preparing for a hurricane and other needs.
To find out more about
Create The Good, visit www.
CreateTheGood.org.
Jacqueline Morrison is
the interim state director for AARP Michigan.
Study finds increase in African Americans seeking emergency food assistance
A landmark study recently
released by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, re- ports that there has been an increase of more than one mil- lion additional African Ameri- cans in need of emergency food assistance each year since 2006. With more than one in three African-American adults seeking emergency food assis- tance from Feeding America, African Americans make up 34 percent of all adults served by Feeding America.
An increasing number of
African-American households with children do not know when or where they will find their next meal. According to USDA’s “Household Food In- security In the United States, 2008” released in November 2009, 3.7 million Black chil- dren were living with food in- security, up from 2.78 million, an increase of 35 percent.
“I have personally experi-
enced hunger and homeless- ness,” said filmmaker and Feeding America entertain- ment council member Tyler Perry. “It’s almost impossible to imagine that this situation could exist in ours, the most wealthy and generous of na- tions. Please look out for your neighbors who you think might need help. No one should go to bed hungry in America.”
Many of the people served
by Feeding America food banks report they are struggling with unemployment, difficult choices between food and
other basic necessities and the pressures of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Almost half of clients served report having to choose between paying for utilities or heating fuel and food; 39 percent said they had to choose between paying for rent or a mortgage and food; 34 percent report having to choose between paying for medical bills and food; and 35 percent must choose between transportation and food.
Hunger in America 2010
is the first research study to capture the significant con- nection between the recent economic downturn and an increased need for emergency food assistance. An estimat- ed 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen, or other agency served by one of Feeding America’s more than 200 food banks. This is a 27 percent in- crease over numbers reported in Hunger in America 2006, which reported that 4.5 mil- lion people were served each week.
The methodology incor-
porated into the 2010 study includes data collected from February through June, 2009. Feeding America collected quantitative and qualitative feedback from 61,000 face- to-face in-depth interviews with people seeking emer- gency food assistance and more than 37,000 agency sur- veys, making this the largest, most comprehensive study ever conducted on domestic
hunger. The results are based on surveys conducted at food pantries, soup kitchens, and other emergency feeding pro- grams only.
“While we have reached
many more people over the past four years, the need of hungry Americans far out- paces our current level of ser- vice,” said a representative. “We will continue to partner with federal and state govern- ments, corporate and individ- ual donors and other hunger- relief organizations to bring more food and funds into the charitable distribution system and connect people with fed- eral benefits until every man, woman and child has access to adequate food and nutri- tion.”
Other findings:
• 50 percent increase in the number of children served an- nually.
• 26 percent increase in the number of African Americans served annually.
• 64 percent increase in the number of households with seniors facing very low food securityor hunger.
• 59 percent increase in the number of client households reporting they have to choose between paying their rent or mortgage and food
A summary of the findings
and the full report are avail- able on Feeding America's website at www.feedingameri-
ca.org/hungerstudy.
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