HUNGER & FOOD INSECURITY IN BUCKS COUNTY
On April 10, 2021, LWVBC concluded the HUNGER CRISIS: It Doesn’t Have to Be So Series, which focused on hunger and food insecurity inBucks County. Madelaine Burgess, Food Pantry Manager at the Bucks County Housing Group and Co-Chair of the Hunger and Nutrition Coalition of Bucks County, Kathy Fisher, Policy Director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, and Cathy Snyder, Founder of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, a vibrant network of farms, food producers and hunger relief sites were the guest panelists on the 10th. Each brought dynamic and informative issues to the forefront of the discussion. Viewers were able to build on what we learned from Session 1, HUNGRY FAMILIES: The Problem, The People and the Unmet Needs and Session 2: TOO HUNGRY TO LEARN: Food Insecurity in Our Schools.
The guest panelists in all three presentations were from organizations intimately involved with efforts to ensure that no one goes hungry in Bucks County. They also presented their organization’s relationship with the issues of poverty, housing, employment, health care and hunger and gave insights to how each of us can contribute to solutions. Advocacy initiatives by individuals and organizations are of utmost importance; how to best advocate was discussed at each session, with greatest emphasis in Session 3.
The average participation at each session was in the range of 50-60 people. Recordings of the series are now available for viewing at @LWVBucksCounty on Facebook, and on our YouTube channel.
Listed below are the series guest panelists and their contact information. Any would be happy to receive your outreach and inquiries. We all hope that your interest will spark your advocacy energies and encourage you to learn of candidates’ positions on the issues of Hunger and Food Insecurity in Bucks County and our society at large.
Session 1:
Kristin Chapin, YWCA Bucks County, kchapin [at] ywcabucks.org
Heather Foor, Bucks County Opportunity Council, hfoor [at] bcoc.org
Tim Philpot, United Way of Bucks County, timp [at] uwbucks.org
Session 2:
Liz Downing, Retired Educator, Advocate, LWVBucksPA [at] gmail.com
Samantha Gross, Bucks County Community College, Samantha.Gross [at] bucks.edu
Jennifer Ritorto, YMCA of Bucks County, jritorto [at] ymcabucks.org
Wendy Ullman, Educator, past Representative, PA General Assembly, wendy [at] wendyullman.com
Lydia Winderman, Retired Educator, Advocate, LWVBucksPA [at] gmail.com
Session 3:
Cathy Snyder, Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, csnyder [at] rollingharvest.org
Kathy Fisher, Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, kfisher [at] hungercoalition.org
Madelaine Burgess, Bucks County Housing Group, mburgess [at] bchg.org
The League Roundtable where this discussion began started at a Membership meeting in 2019 and culminated in the virtual series through the combined efforts of Kathleen Beveridge, Liz Downing, Liz Fritsch, Vera Haskins, Lynne Kallus-Rainey, Sandra Kerr, Marilyn Rector, Tam St.Claire, Barbara Sperry, Monica Weninger, Kathleen Weidner, Jean Weston and Lydia Winderman. We thank our viewers for your participation and comments.
Barbara Sperry
LWVBC Program Committee
