Ultra aboneliği.
For many Americans, Thanksgiving day is a celebration of abundance. We give thanks to our many blessings, first and foremost of which is usually a plate piled high with turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry (in one of its many forms). But while we celebrate, it’s worth remembering that this abundance isn’t everyone’s reality. 50 million Americans are food insecure, even despite the 100 billion dollars we spend on hunger relief every year.
According to Jack Griffin, our nation actually has enough food to feed us. The problem is that the food isn’t reaching the families who need it. That’s why Jack created FoodFinder.us, a site that connects the people looking for emergency food with the providers who offer it.
FoodFinder is a food pantry locator and 501(c)(3) nonprofit that shows you when and where to get free food assistance in your area. The map on our home page is a map of food pantries and school meal locations — every pin that appears is a food assistance program nearby.
Feeding people during a pandemic
Foodfinder has connected over 400,000 people to food since they launched in 2014, and the service available in over 10,000 cities. 200,000 of these connections have been made since Covid hit in March, at a time when food insecurity has peaked at an alarming rate. For comparison, this is almost double the number of people served in all of 2019.
We served an average of 3,000 people/day in March and April at the onset of the pandemic, 4x our normal demand. Our daily impact has stabilized at 1,500 people served per day (still twice our pre-pandemic average).
According to data provided by Feeding America, almost every county in America is experiencing food insecurity rates above 11%, with over half of our counties having rates as high 17–23%. It’s hard not to be taken aback by this data. It’s truly shocking that in most places in America right now, at least 1 in 10 of our neighbors are food insecure.
How you can help
Starting today, FoodFinder is putting on a fundraising event for the week surrounding Thanksgiving, with the goal of [[RAISING $X TO DO Y THING]]. Every dollar you raise helps people who need food find the meals that are ready to be eaten. It’s easy to set up a fundraising event on StreamlabsCharity.com, and of course we offer a custom charity tip page, integrated charity alerts, a charity donation goal, and everything else you need for a successful stream. We’re also proud to be the only fundraising platform to offer this service for free, with no transaction fees or annual fees for streamers, donors, and charities.
Resources:
- Start a Fundraiser on behalf of FoodFinder
- Search for local pantries near you
- Get the FoodFinder App on IOS or Android