FOOD Share Taps Business and Community Leaders to Help Tackle Hunger

Online, November 10, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Over 20 of Ventura County's top business and political leaders will roll up their sleeves when they meet with FOOD Share staff to strategize about creative ways to build support for Tackle Hunger, the regional food bank's largest and most important annual food drive.

Running through January 10, 2012, FOOD Share has set aggressive goals for the Tackle Hunger campaign hoping to collect over $150,000 in monetary donations and over 200,000 lbs of donated food to help restock the shelves of their Oxnard warehouse distribution center.

"The need for food in Ventura County continues to grow," says Bonnie Weigel CEO. "We are seeing so many hungry friends who have never before been in the position to need supplemental food. As a result, the demand for food has nearly doubled over the past three years and we now serve over 74,500 people each month."

The good news is that, to date, FOOD Share has been able to keep pace with increased demand. The bad news is that the numbers of hungry children, families and seniors continues to climb.

Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, reports that 51,000 children in Ventura County are food insecure, meaning they do not know when they will have their next meal As a result, FOOD Share, is hoping that the community embraces Tackle Hunger and adds the gift of feeding others to the top of their holiday shopping lists.

Over the next two months, FOOD Share's All Star Tackle Hunger committee, comprised of some of their core stakeholders and corporate community leaders, will take the Tackle Hunger message to the streets in an effort to build awareness about hunger and garner additional community support for the campaign. The goal is to encourage neighborhoods, businesses, youth groups and individuals to collect cash and food donations and find new and creative ways to meet the need.

Tackle Hunger donations can be made by going to www.foodshare.com and clicking on the Tackle Hunger icon.

About FOOD Share
The food bank distributing millions of pounds of food each year to those in need throughout Ventura County, FOOD Share collects and receives food year-round, distributing through more than 150 pantry partner agencies throughout Ventura County, including Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Oak View, Ojai, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Somis, Thousand Oaks, and Ventura.

FOOD Share provides food to more than 74,500 people each month countywide through its partner agencies and multiple programs. Programs include the Senior Brown Bag that provides supplemental nutrition to nearly 2,000 low income seniors, home delivered meals and supplemental groceries through the Oxnard and Ventura Senior Nutrition Programs and, the Kids' Farmers' Markets, offering nutrition education, healthy recipe preparation and taste testing and a farmers' market free fresh produce "shopping experience."

In 2011, FOOD Share partnered with Ventura County's Human Services Agency to provide expanded CalFresh enrollment assistance. CalFresh, formerly called food stamps, is the largest federal nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental nutrition assistance to eligible Ventura County residents.

For more information: call (805) 983-7100 or go to http://www.foodshare.com.