Partnering to End the Root Causes of Hunger

Partnering to End the Root Causes of Hunger

A look at some of our Root Cause Partnerships

Treating the root causes of food insecurity means offering services that go beyond food assistance. It often means helping clients overcome the impact of intergenerational poverty. While our focus is primarily on ending hunger in Houston, we know this is not possible without working to end intergenerational poverty. This is where our Root Cause Partnerships come in.

We at Target Hunger are grateful for the many community partnerships that allow us to better serve the neighborhoods where we work. Community partners offer two major benefits: 1. They allow us to offer services that our organization may not have the capacity to provide on our own, for example Job Trainings or Financial Education. 2. They expand our reach to ensure more people in the community who need food assistance and navigation services have access to these services. We have several community partners that help us not only treat hunger, but also treat the root causes of hunger – you can read more about those partnerships here.

Partnering with HISD Wraparound Services

This week we want to highlight one of those partnerships – Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) Wraparound Services. This

No child should be concerned about where or when their next meal will come. This partnership allows us to provide much needed food to students and their families. Beyond filling hungry tummies, it allows students to have the energy to learn, play, and grow.

amazing HISD department “connects students and their families with community resources that address the non-academic challenges that students face which ultimately impact their ability to learn.” You can read more about the program here. As an HISD Wraparound partner, we have donated food and other items to Scroggins Elementary School, Franklin Elementary School, J.P. Henderson Elementary School, and Raul C. Martinez Elementary School. These schools are located in two of the nine zip codes we serve in northeast Houston.

We could not support programs like HISD Wraparound Services without the assistance of donors. Food and monetary donations allow us to provide assistance to students and their families. These donations allow us to help generations of families work towards a more secure future. You can support us by donating here or by starting your own CANnecting Food Drive!

Meet Our New Volunteer Manager

Meet Our New Volunteer Manager

This week, we wanted to introduce you to the newest member of our staff – Sean Nickelberry! Sean joined Target Hunger a few weeks ago as our Volunteer Manager. He comes to us from Communities In Schools, and we’re so excited to see where he takes our volunteer program.

To get to know him a little better, we sat down with Sean to ask 10 fun questions. Hear what he had to say!

Look for our Volunteer Manager Sean Nickelberry next time you volunteer with us!

Q:  What’s your favorite movie?

A:   My favorite movie of all-time is Coming to America! I’m a huge Eddie Murphy fan and he’s one of my top-three favorite actors.

 

Q:  What are 3 words that best describe you?

A:   GIVING, loving, focused

 

Q:  What is one thing you could not go a day without?

A:   I cannot go one day without talking to my mom.

 

Q:  What’s your favorite family recipe?

A:   I have a family secret teacake recipe that is amazing!

 

Q:  What is your proudest accomplishment?

A:   My proudest moment was being ordained and serving in pastoral ministry.

 

Q:  What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?

A:   Sleeping! When not sleeping, I would either go fishing or spending the day poolside.

 

Q:  Which famous person in history would you want to spend the day with?

A:   I would love to have met the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I would spend the day soaking in so much wisdom and knowledge from him.

 

Q:  What’s on your bucket list?

A:   I am determined to complete two books I have been struggling to write for years. I also would love to go back to school to earn my Doctorate of Ministry degree.

 

Q:  Where do you most want to visit in the world?

A:   I would love to visit several countries on the continent of Africa. I have never been and dream of going someday.

 

Q:  If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

A:   If I were a super-hero, I would love to have the powers to be able to run super-fast, fly, unimaginable strength, and be invisible.

 

Get to know Sean even better by volunteering with us. Volunteer opportunities can be found here or by contacting Sean at volunteer@targethunger.org.

We hope to see you soon!

Blooming at the Shotwell Garden

Blooming at the Shotwell Garden

The land the garden now sits on began as an overgrown parking lot.

Started from the Ground Up…

Last week, we officially opened our second garden- the Green Mountain Energy Shotwell Garden, which is located at Target Hunger’s main warehouse on Shotwell Street. This wonderful Garden is all thanks to our partner – Green Mountain Energy Sun Club who underwrote a generous grant for the project. The Garden has long been in the works. Originally planned to open at the end of 2020, the Garden hit a few hurdles before it was ready. COVID brought our focus strictly to our Disaster Distributions as the best way to serve the community members. Then the Winter Storm hit, freezing most of the seedlings that were planted earlier in the year and bursting some of the irrigation pipes. Now, we are happy to say the Garden is growing and thriving!

Now the land is home to our beautiful container garden!

Designed with sustainability in mind, what was once an overgrown lot is now an innovative above-ground container garden comprised of 2,400 crates. Placed between railroad tracks on soil prone to contamination, the crates rest on benches above the ground and allow our vegetables to thrive in healthy soil. The Garden is watered via a soft irrigation system that pulls water from a 3,000-gallon rainwater catchment system. The water tank collects water from the roof of a nearby shed – just 1 inch of rainwater collected will fill the tank! The Garden also features a greenhouse for seedlings and a composting facility to help us manage vegetation waste.

L to R: Stacy Mehlhoff, Executive Director of Green Mountain Energy Sun Club; Lupe Rodas, Garden Coordinator at Target Hunger; Johnny Richardson, Program Manager at Green Mountain Energy Sun Club; Mark Ahysen, Garden Assistant at Target Hunger

 

 

 

Now, we’re Looking to the Future!

We anticipate that this Garden will produce approximately 10,000 pounds of fresh vegetables each year, allowing us to serve 400 families in northeast Houston. Beyond the food, we are hoping to make this Garden a place for education and community growth. Our aim is that this space will provide community members the opportunity to see where their food is grown and how to grow it themselves. We also want to use this Garden to teach the community how to turn the vegetables produced into healthy and affordable meals. It will be another opportunity to teach self-sufficiency skills and treat the root causes of hunger.

Sandy Wicoff, our CEO, receiving a Resolution from Lawrence Battle from the office of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis.

We want to say a big thank you to everyone who attended last week’s Open House. We received an outpouring of support from community leaders, including a Resolution from Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. As we continue to grow the Garden, we hope you will visit to see the progress. A space that began as a parking lot is now a thriving garden full of squash, tomatoes, beans, and onions. As with our Goffney Garden, community members are welcome to come and volunteer with us! Gardening is a great team builder for groups and our outdoor picnic tables provide the perfect space for a breakfast or lunch while volunteering. If you are interested in volunteering please contact our Volunteer Manager, Sean Nickelberry at volunteer@targethunger.org or sign-up here.

 

We hope to see you at the Garden soon!