Hike for Hunger
Spring 2012: March 3, 2012
Take a step to turn hunger into hope in the life of a child!
Right now, one in four children in Arizona lives in poverty. Of these, an estimated 400,000 children currently rely on the free/reduced school lunch program as their primary source of nutrition. But when school ends, so do their meals. Kitchen on the Street turns hunger into hope by providing child-friendly weekend meals to more than 800 children every week. Arizona is the SECOND poorest state in the nation!
Stomp out hunger: make plans to participate in the Hike For Hunger in Spring 2012!
Hike, bike, walk or jog for the cause. Join us at Papago Park on 3/3/2012 or blaze your own trail… Check-in at 8:00am. Early birds can hike first and check-in anytime after 8am.
Show your support for the Stomping Out Hunger and Register today! Your $25 registration fees secures your spot on the mountain on Saturday 3/3/2012 and earns you goodies. Shortly after you register you will receive an email confirmation with tips and resurces for fundraising success. Kitchen on the Street will also provide links to share with family and friends, to assist you in raising awareness on your passion and providing ideas on how your supporters can help you meet your goal.
- Every hiker receives a Hike for Hunger t-shirt, a goodie bag & goodies courtesy of Discount Tire Co.
- Raise $250 and also receive an aluminum sports bottle and a “thank you” note from a KOS Kid.
- Raise $500, receive the above items, plus a volunteer opportunity for you and 25 friends @ KOS!
- Raise $1000, receive all of the above, plus you will be featured in the KOS e-newsletter, with your chance to share details on why turning hunger into hope is your mission!
So champion the cause of one of the communities listed below, or set your own record-breaking fundraising goal!
Featured communities:
NORTHERN NEED
This community is comprised of 845 students, 95% receive free and reduced breakfast and lunch. Walk the halls and you will see all nationalities. Many are refugees receiving political or religion asylum in the United States. A high number of these refugee children from Thailand, Burma and Karen have spent the majority of their lifetime living in a refugee camp. While the communal environment may have provided them with lots of playmates, the living conditions, lack of freedom and lack of structure make it difficult for them to integrate into American culture and settle into a classroom. Most speak no English when they arrive in the US and are enrolled in school. The parents of these children speak little to no English either. They have never lived with modern conveniences like running water, indoor plumbing, electric stoves, microwaves or refrigerators. Limited communication skills make it difficult to impossible to utilize public transportation, so obtaining food for their family is an extreme challenge. Kitchen on the Street serves 180 children in this community each weekend. It costs just $900 to feed these 180 children for a weekend; $3,600 for a month’s worth of weekend food to meet their need. You have the power to put food in the mouths of these children. Please adopt this community in the Hike for Hunger today.
CENTRAL CONFLICT
“Central Phoenix” conjures images of large homes with inviting green lawns, but look further and you will see trailer parks, dilapidated houses and abandoned vehicles that people live in. Pay a home visit and you will find 3 or 4 children sharing 1 bed, dirt floors and empty refrigerators. Many parents within this community are considered the “working poor”; they are gainfully employed but still live 185% below the poverty line! They walk their children to school and walk them up in the afternoon, they volunteer their time in the classroom and they attend PTA meetings. While they struggle to maintain daily living, they believe their time and love can benefit others, so they give freely of what they have. Kitchen on the Street’s partnership in one such community serves 35 children each weekend via Bags of Hope. The total school population is 745, 90% receive free and reduced breakfast and lunch. It costs just $175 to feed these 35 children for a weekend; $700 for a month’s worth of weekend food to meet their need. Use your blessings to bless these struggling children.
SOUTHERN STRIFE
Remember back to when you were 8 and in the second grade; such excitement for school each morning. Did you ever meet up with your friends on the playground and ask them if they had anything you could eat? For students in this community this is common because food is scarce! 99% of the 590 children enrolled in a south Phoenix school come to school hungry… They alternate between hunger pangs and nausea from not having eaten over the weekend! While the holes in their shoes can be overlooked and they can wear several layers of clothing to keep warm in the winter but the only answer to hunger is food. Limited income for families of this community means limited food for their children. Little to no food means a child’s brain is not properly fueled for learning and lack of education limits employment choices as an adult – thus the cycle perpetuates. It costs just $750 per week to feed the 150 children of this community on weekends; $3,000 for a month’s worth of weekend food to meet their need. You have the power to break that cycle by adopting this community in the Hike for Hunger.
Register today for the 4th annual Dennis Cagle Hike for Hunger.
FAITH MOVES MOUNTAINS…HIKE FOR HUNGER!
