Global Child Nutrition Month and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation is running a month-long campaign to help raise funds and awareness for school feeding programs in developing nations.
The Global Child Nutrition Foundation was created in 2006 with the mission of expanding opportunities for the world’s children to receive adequate nutrition for learning and achieving their potential. It continues and expands upon the work of the Global Child Nutrition Forum, formerly conducted by the School Nutrition Association (SNA). Created in 1946, SNA advocates healthy nutrition for every child in the United States.
GCNF is dedicated to helping countries develop and operate successful, sustainable, school feeding programs. GCNF provides training and education to support the development of community-based school feeding programs that respond to the nutritional needs of children while considering local cultural and community values.
National Volunteer Week is organized by Points of Light and is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to come together to tackle tough challenges and build stronger, more resilient communities. Each year, they shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve, recognizing and thanking volunteers who lend their time, talent and voice to make a difference in their communities.
Celebrate Service
National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 and has grown each year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. Plan or attend an event to celebrate the impact of volunteers in your community, and inspire others to serve.
Five Presidents on the Power of Service
President George H. W. Bush speaks on the power of volunteerism and highlights the importance of helping others through service. "There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others" -President George H. W. Bush
Causes and Solutions
The passion of volunteers is ignited when people can help the causes they care about. Points of Light inspire, equips and mobilizes volunteers in support of these main causes:
Veterans and Military Families
Joining together with and for our veterans addresses critical needs and helps build stronger communities. Points of Light’s military programs connect service members, veterans and their families with their communities through service and support.
Take action:
Volunteer to support your local military community.
Learn how your community can support military members and veterans.
Donate to support the mobilization of thousands of volunteers.
Disaster Preparedness
A strong community is a resilient community, one that’s ready and able to work together if things go wrong. For a community to thrive and survive, residents, nonprofits, governments, and businesses must plan for how they will respond to and recover from disaster together.
Take action:
Get ready with these disaster preparedness resources.
Volunteer in a relief and recovery effort.
Learn how volunteers can help in a local response effort.
Economic Opportunity
Everyone and every family should have a chance at a better life. In an economically sustainable community, people help each other learn how to catch up and then get ahead. In these vibrant communities, people are able to achieve financial stability by becoming better managers of their money and of their futures.
Take action:
Learn how AmeriCorps VISTA members train volunteers as financial coaches.
Mentor youth to help them prepare for college and careers.
Contact us to volunteer as a financial coach in your community.
Youth and Education
When all members of the community become involved in the lives of youth, student attendance and the quality of education greatly improve. Youth have the power to make their mark on the world when they are empowered through service, and can access the education and resources that can help them give back to their communities.
Take action:
Learn how service prepares youth for college and careers.
Inspire youth to get excited about community service.
Find out how young adults boost the academic achievement of low-income students.
Civil and Human Rights
Social change doesn’t just happen – people and communities must work together to advocate for freedom and equality without bounds or limits. It is a transformation that takes understanding, acceptance, cooperation and volunteer service.
Take action:
Volunteer during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.
Host an America's Sunday Supper.
Donate to support the MLK Day of Service
Nonprofit Capacity
To do their world-changing work, nonprofits must deliver effective programs and also improve their ability to achieve their mission. Volunteers – and the skills, energy and time they give – offer one of the best ways for nonprofits to become greater at doing good.
Take action:
Get certified in using volunteers to increase capacity.
Access training, consulting and other tools.
Volunteer and help a nonprofit in your area do more.
Social Entrepreneurship
Innovative social change comes in many forms – and can come from the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Successful social entrepreneurs often include people as part of the solution to critical social problems. These entrepreneurs work to create greater, more accessible pathways to economic opportunity.
Take action:
Apply for support for your for-profit or nonprofit startup.
Volunteer Appreciation
Recognizing the exceptional work of volunteers keeps their good work going, and inspires others to serve. Celebrating the power of individuals to create change in their communities can also bring more attention and resources to a cause.
Take action:
Nominate a hero in your life for an award.
Visit the only national monument to honor volunteers.
Get inspired by volunteer stories.
Volunteer to Fight Against Hunger
AARP and AARP Foundation: These organizations work with state and community partners and volunteers to help older adults enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commission research on the causes and consequences of senior hunger, and award grants to help develop or expand sustainable solutions for older-adult anti-hunger programs. Volunteer Opportunities: Community outreach, nutrition education, community events.
Feeding America serves 37 million people, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors, through local agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and after-school programs. Feeding America food banks provide nutrition education programs. In addition, the organization’s network operates programs that promote self-sufficiency, educates the public about the problem of hunger and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Volunteer Opportunities: Food rescue, driving, loading, repacking, community outreach, food banks.
Meals On Wheels. Representing community-based senior nutrition programs across the country, the Meals On Wheels Association of America serves approximately 1 million meals a day to the nation’s seniors through two methods of food distribution: direct delivery to homebound seniors and adults with disabilities, and congregate meals served in group settings such as a community center or long-term care facility. Volunteer Opportunities: Meal preparation, packaging or delivery, clerical support, special events.
No Kid Hungry. Families at risk of hunger need access to food and the skills to make healthy meals with their resources, nutrition education is a key part of the No Kid Hungry campaign. Through its Cooking Matters program, nutrition educators and chefs equip low-income families with skills to stretch their food budgets, shop smarter, make healthier food choices and cook delicious, affordable meals. Volunteer Opportunities: Community event planning, nutrition education, fundraising, advocacy.
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and has helped save more children’s lives than anyother humanitarian organization in the world. Nutrition is a key component to its work, whether through an emergency feeding program during a disaster or famine or an established community clinic offering nutrition education and support to young mothers. UNICEF is the world’s largest supplier of ready-to-use therapeutic food for malnourished children and helped increase the world’s supply of therapeutic food by more than 9,000 percent between 2008 and 2012. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
The World Food Programme serves the world’s least food secure in regions where hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Last year, the organization distributed 3.5 million metric tons of food to 97 million people in 80 countries. The World Food Programme works to prevent hunger through helping communities build assets, educate its people and develop stronger and more dynamic infrastructures - from establishing environmental sustainability and connecting farmers with markets to supporting breastfeeding initiatives and introducing school meal programs. The World Food Programme is funded entirely by voluntary donations. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
A global youth service movement igniting the power of all kids to make their mark on the world. They are the youth division of Points of Light.
GenerationOn has brought the nation's leading youth service organizations and programs under one umbrella including Children for Children, The League, Learning to Give, and Kids Care Clubs, HandsOn Schools. By partnering with teachers, parents, schools, community organizations and businesses, generationOn gives kids the opportunity to see firsthand the issues in their communities and the tools and resources they need to respond and become part of the solution”.
What Will You Bring to the Table?
Powered by generationOn
Points of Light connects people to their power to make a meaningful difference by providing access to tools, resources, and opportunities to help volunteers use their time, talent, voice, and money to meet the critical needs of our communities.
Do you eat when you are anxious or excited? Does food make you feel better? If so, you may be conditioned to turn to food for comfort. April is Emotional Overeating Awareness Month.
For many people, eating is something to do when you're bored, tired, anxious or dealing with emotions. Often these behaviors can lead to overeating. But eating to cope with emotions can lead to more negative feelings (guilt, lack of personal control and poor self-esteem) and perhaps to a cycle of mood-triggered eating.
If you eat because of emotions, start keeping a food record of what you eat, when you eat and why you eat. Recognizing what triggers eating can often make it easier to make changes.
Calgary Dietitian Andrea Holwegner speaks on Emotional Eating
#NationalEggsBenedictDay - a day set aside to enjoy poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and Canadian bacon or ham on English muffin halves. http://bit.ly/2H6AcwB
Today in Food History
1521 Martin Luther arrived at the Diet of Worms. This was NOT the first fad diet.
1890 Donald Forsha Jones was born (died June 19, 1963). American geneticist who invented the double-cross method of hybrid corn development, making the production of high-yielding hybrid corn practical.
1906 William James Farrer died. An Australian agriculturist, he developed new varieties of wheat.
1928 Ellsworth Milson Statler died. American hotel owner, founder of Statler Hotels. His Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York was the first hotel in the U.S. to have running water and private baths in each room.
1941 The original Elsie the Cow died. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. She is buried in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
2. Mediterranean Spinach Salad with Feta and White Beans #meatlessmonday Elena Paravantes #RDN http://bit.ly/2qDzu2H3. Does ginger help nausea? #NutritionAction http://bit.ly/2H31doE
4. FDA Investigates Salmonella Infections Linked to Shell Eggs from Rose Acre Farms. Affected eggs are from plant number P-1065 w/date range of 011 through date of 102 printed on either the side portion or principal side of the carton or package http://bit.ly/2JPJWwN
5. Why ‘healthy’ snacks could be stopping you from losing weight Leanne Ward, #RDN https://ind.pn/2HDu7sB
6. Grocery Stores Get Mostly Mediocre Scores On Their Food Waste Efforts https://n.pr/2IYVmx6 7. #EarthDay (April 22) is a perfect time to look at food choices and how they affect the planet http://bit.ly/2qClB5Q
A mousse is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. It can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques. A mousse may be sweet or savory.
In the case of some chocolate mousses, egg yolks are often stirred into melted chocolate to give the final product a richer mouthfeel. Mousses are also typically chilled before being served, which gives them a denser texture. Sweetened mousse is served as a dessert, or used as an airy cake filling. It is sometimes stabilized with gelatin.
Medication Safety Week: Draws attention to this health problem as the 6th leading cause of death. The Women's Heart Foundation started a Medication Safety Week, offering communities strategies to reduce risk while raising awareness.
1. Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet
Discard outdated medicines and old prescriptions. Store medicines in their original containers and in a cool, dry place. Locate medicines away from children and pets and from those who do not understand.
2. Know Your Medicines
Make a list of your medicines and know what each is for. Learn to identify each pill size, shape and color by name. Note times to take, drug action and any side effects. Know both the generic and trade names of your medicines and what each is for. This may prevent inadvertently double-dosing. Include in your list over-the-counter medicines, birth control pills, patches, and supplements. Keep the list updated and keep it with you at all times. Don't mix medicine with alcohol - a combination that can be lethal.
3. Read Medicine Labels Carefully
Are you taking what your doctor ordered and the way he ordered it? Note precautionary stickers on the label.
4. Organize Your Medicines
Keep an updated record listing all medicines and supplements you are taking. Use of a medicine organizer box may be helpful, especially for those taking more than one pill several times a day, however, a medicine organizer box requires close monitoring, especially when there is a change in medicines.
5: Transitional Care Aware
Changes in care (i.e. being moved from one hospital floor to another, being transferred from one care facility to another, being discharged home) all require intense coordination of services and good communication amongst health providers. When there are lapses, you are at risk of an adverse event or hospital readmission. One study estimated that 80 percent of serious medical errors involve miscommunication during the hand-off between medical providers.
6: Know Your Individual Risk before Starting a New Rx
Talk to your pharmacist. Discuss your possible risk of a serious side effect to occur.
7: Better Communication with Health Professionals is Key. Share information with all your prescribing practitioners and with your pharmacist about every medicine and supplement you are taking. Discuss all risks and benefits with your prescribing practitioner. Discuss expected effects and possible side effects.
I Need Easy Meals for My Kids
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On this episode of Dinner SOS, Chris and Didn’t I Just Feed You hosts
Stacie and Meghan offer tips on how to make family cooking easier.
25 Summer Side Dishes
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Keep it light and fresh with these easy summer side dishes. Made with
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Roasted Cabbage and Chickpea salad
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Sometimes as a vegetable cabbage doesn't get used enough, but it's cheap
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