Feed Team

Feed News: Food Security Analysis -- Hunger Closes In As Foreign Cash Dries Up

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:37:00 -0700

Petronilla now has to rely on the bit of money she earns making pots to feed herself and her grandchildren. The children's mother, who works abroad, no longer earns enough to send money home.
Norma López, 33, last sent money home to her mother in early 2008. That last ‘remittance’ was US$60 -- US$40 less than what she used to send. Amid the economic downturn in the United States, her housekeeping work was cut from six hours a day to two.

By Tania Moreno

SAN SALVADOR -- With the money she sent from the US, Norma used to be able to cover the food, health, utility services and other needs of her family in El Salvador. Due to effects of the financial crisis, her income now barely covers her personal expenses.

For her mother and children in the town of Guatajiagua, in eastern El Salvador, hunger is only a step away. Norma’s 70-year-old mother, Petronila Lopez, continues to work with black mud earthenware. It’s a craft that has provided for her own subsistence and to raise her four children. Using only her hands and creativity, Petronila produces a dozen “comales” in four days for which she will be paid US$2.50

"No other choice"

“It is difficult at my age, sometimes arthritis prevents me from working well, but I have no other choice, it is the only thing I can do. I go the nearby towns to sell the pots and “comales” and from what I sell I can eat.”

Petronila´s four grandchildren – Norma’s own kids -- are beneficiaries of a WFP-supported School Feeding programme which helps the household keep going and helps improve their nutritional intake. The food they receive is a great relief for us and happiness for the children because they are more alive and therefore able to study.”

The López family’s story is one of the thousands of stories of poor, food-insecure Salvadorans that are being negatively affected by the reduction of remittances as a result of the economic downturn in the United States.

More than a billion hungry

Recent statistics issued by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization cited falling remittances as one of the reasons why the number of hungry in the world will exceed 1 billion this year, for the first time in history.

Remittances fell by US$120 million during the last quarter of 2008 in El Salvador compared to the same period the previous year. This directly impacts the 28% of the adult population that depends on remittances to support the household’s budget. Of this 28%, over half live in rural areas.

For these people, social safety nets such as school feeding projects – where kids are guaranteed at least one nutritional meal a day – are a vital way of staving off chronic malnutrition and stopping families being pushed over the brink.

FEED Mission

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:21:00 -0700

To create good products that help FEED the world.

The Problem

Hunger and malnutrition kill more people than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.

The global food system is imbalanced and people are sick and dying due to lack of good quality nutrition.

Almost 400 million children around the world go to bed hungry every night. In fact, every five seconds a child dies because he or she is hungry.

There are still over 77 million children not attending school (60% of which are girls), 150 million children drop out of school before attaining a basic primary education, and 50 million hungry children are not receiving any form of food aid.

The Solution

School feeding is one of the most effective solutions to stopping hunger and breaking the poverty cycle.

In 74 countries, the UN World Food Program (WFP) offers a nutrient-packed meal to children in school. This food gets kids to school, who might not attend otherwise, and gives them the energy to learn and empowers them to better their lives.

When boys and girls are given a free, nutritious meal in school, research has shown that attendance increases by 100% and performance improves greatly. Girls with just a few years of education have fewer children, have them later in life, and are better prepared to care for and educate them. For many children, a school lunch is the only meal they will receive all day. Learn More: www.wfp.org

FEED Projects goal is to reach hungry children through the sales of our FEED bags.

FEED bags raise much-needed funds for WFP school-feeding operations and awareness of the problem of child hunger.

We distribute the funds through the FEED Foundation, our partner organization which gets the money from bag sales to hungry children as efficiently as possible. Please visit the FEED Foundation at www.thefeedfoundation.org

Our Story

FEED Projects was started in 2006 when acclaimed model and activist Lauren Bush designed a bag to benefit the United Nations World Food Program's (WFP) School Feeding operations. Lauren, a WFP Honorary Spokesperson who has visited eight WFP food aid operations around the world, was inspired by the plight of the people she met on her travels. She took a special interest in WFP's School Feeding program, which feeds and educates hungry children.

Inspired by the aesthetic of the bags of food distributed by WFP, she created the FEED 1 bag, a reversible burlap and cotton bag stamped with "FEED the children of the world" and the number "1" to signify that each bag feeds one child in school for one year.

At the UN, Lauren met then-WFP Communications Officer Ellen Gustafson and they hatched a plan to use FEED bags to FEED the world. In 2007, Lauren and Ellen founded FEED Projects, LLC and started selling FEED 1 bags in April of 2007. By the end of 2007, they raised donations for WFP to feed over 37,500 hungry children in school for one year. In 2008, FEED Projects various partnerships will lead to over $4 million for WFP school feeding.

Our personal commitment to working against hunger is matched with a commitment to the environment and to safe and healthy working conditions for all we work with. FEED bags are made with sustainable materials and are designed to be used as an alternative to disposable paper and plastic bags. This environmental and fair labor commitment is an added value in all FEED products.

The goal of FEED Projects is to market and sell as many FEED bags as possible and to FEED and educate the world's 400 million hungry children.

Our Product Values

All FEED products are made as eco-friendly and fairly as possible. Our bags are produced with high-quality, 100% organic cotton and natural burlap. We work with only audited and certified fair labor facilities. It's important to us to visit the places our products are made AND the places our donations are going.

Team FEED

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:08:00 -0700

Lauren Bush, Co-Founder and CEO

Lauren Bush is the CEO, Creative Director and co-Founder of FEED Projects LLC. She also serves as the Chairman of the Board for the FEED Foundation. In 2004, Lauren became an Honorary Spokesperson for the UN World Food Program (WFP). As Honorary Spokesperson, Lauren has traveled to eight countries around the world visiting WFP operations, and helped start the Universities Fighting Hunger Campaign in the US.

For many years Lauren was a fashion model, appearing on the cover of such publications as W, Australian Vogue, Glamour, Town and Country, and Tatler. Her involvement in the fashion industry lead to her interest in photography and fashion design, which she studied at Parsons in NY and Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design in London. Lauren graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with a BA in Anthropology and a Certificate in Photography. She was born in the Rockies of Colorado, but grew up in Houston, Texas.

Ellen Gustafson, Co-Founder and Executive VP

Ellen is the co-Founder and Executive Vice President of FEED Projects, LLC. She is also the Executive Director of the FEED Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to ways to support a more sustainably fed and well-nourished world. Previously, Ellen was the NY Communications Officer for the UN World Food Program (WFP). At WFP, she was acting Sr. Spokesperson in 2006 and launched the Universities Fighting World Hunger initiative of over 70 partner schools. Prior to WFP, Ellen reported in the ABC News Investigative Unit and was a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations in the Military Policy and Communications groups.

Ellen has a BA in International Politics from Columbia University and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Food and Nutrition Policy at New York University. She hails from the battlefields near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Ellen loves to cook and sing, both of which are enjoyed regularly by Team FEED.

Kristina Fell

Kristina is the Director of Operations for FEED Projects, LLC. She joins us from Columbia University, where she worked for four years doing communications and marketing for the university. She also received her BA in English from Columbia in 2005, along with a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Education in 2009.

Kristina grew up just outside of Cleveland, Ohio and came to New York in 2001 to go to school and play basketball for the Columbia Lions. She loves her new second home at FEED in the West Village and already knows that burlap goes with every outfit.

Kathryn Tisch

Kathryn joins FEED Projects, LLC as the 2009 MBA Summer Intern, where she is responsible for product development and financial analysis. Previously, Kathryn interned for Accio Energy, an alternative wind power startup in Michigan, as well as African Aurora Business Network, a startup in Ghana that provides business training to entrepreneurs looking to access microfinance loans. She also spent three years working in securities and finance litigation as an Analyst at NERA Economic Consulting.

Kathryn holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. During college, she traveled by ship with Semester at Sea to 13 countries throughout the world. Kathryn is currently pursuing her MBA at Harvard Business School, where she is the CFO of the African Business Club and Co-Chair of the Retail & Luxury Goods Conference.

Friends

Thanks for our FEED Friends and partners:

Whole Foods Market, especially Julie Droege-Thorpe
Harrods and El Corte Ingles
Amazon.com
Colette, Lileo, C.O. Bigelow, David Jones, Vivre, TOMS Shoes, ABC Carpet and Home, Yoya, Joni's, HB Provisions
Michelle Street at Pilot Air Freight
Paul Maier and the Team at Dickstein Schapiro, LLP
HL Group

David Lauren, Charles Fagan, and Addi Hou at Polo RL and the team at Rugby Ralph Lauren
Daniel Stanco, Lynne Nissen, and the entire Clifford Chance US LLP team
Tom Greenhaw and Randy Cochran at Nova Libra
David Black, CPA
Brian Ponto
Greg Barber at Greg Barber Environmental Printing Co.
All our friends at Mercy Corps and the Action Center to End Hunger, especially Marni Fechter
Tom Voute

Feed Bag

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Handcrafted in Kenya by a coop of women and deaf Kenyans, each FEED 2 Kenya bag includes a $100 donation to the UN World Food Program's School Feeding operations in Kenya. Therefore, not only does this purchase support women and deaf Kenyan artisans, but the donation provides nutritious school meals to two Kenyan children for one year.

Each bag is hand-beaded using traditional techniques and is made with natural burlap and the iconic Kenyan Masai tribal fabric; leather handles and shoulder strap make this the most luxurious FEED bag yet! The WFP school feeding program in Kenya is a needed support for a nation that is now dealing with a food crisis leaving 10 million Kenyans at risk of hunger.

The FEED 2 Kenya bag will be available in June for $195 exclusively

Each FEED 100 bag will provide 100 school meals to hungry children in Rwanda through the UN.

Help us reach our goal of providing all WFP school meals in Rwanda for 2009 and buy your FEED 100 bag now at Whole Foods Markets nationwide

The FEED 2 bag is stylish burlap and 100% organic cotton tote. It has comfortable green straps, with the additional messenger strap and copper d-ring closure. This bag is as functional as it is fashionable.

Each FEED 2 bag sold feeds 2 children in school for a year through the UN World Food Program. Look cool and do good

The FEED 1 bag is a stylish, well-designed burlap and 100% organic cotton bag that has a mighty mission - to help raise awareness and funds for child hunger.

Thanks to lots of incredible customer support, we have been able to FEED over 40,000 children for a year in school and counting! FEED 1 Bags are Sold in the USA, England, Spain, Japan, Germany, Canada, Switzerland.

Support FEED and the World Food Program's School Feeding operations in 74 countries by BUYING a FEED 1 BAG NOW

Giving is always in style, so $50 from the sale of each chic bag will be donated to FEED Foundation to provide resources to student activists nationwide as they endeavor to combat hunger around the world. In their first philanthropic partnership, Rugby Ralph Lauren teamed up with FEED projects to promote sustainability in the global food system. The result merges fashion and philanthropy with this exclusive, reversible Rugby FEED bag.

Feed Team

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:48:00 -0700

Colores frios en Dibujos a Lapicero? se preguntaran que significa, bueno es cuando utilizas colores de tono oscuro en los dibujos, aunque a lapicero no hay una gama de colores que puedas utilizar a tu antojo, pero aún asi el dibujo se hace mas triste, por eso si se dan cuenta, la mirada del ave lo hice triste... y en paisajes esto lo hace lejano... bueno... ya pronto les mostraré si hay oportunidad...

Siempre me hago la pregunta, porque un tigre, un lobo, una rosa, un pajaro, o una mujer... que mas da, es una forma de expresar sentimientos y demostrar el Don que Dios me dio...

Este es uno de los primeros dibujos que hice, con algunos errores en el dibujo y en el concepto en sí, como es posible que una angelita, puede fumar?? no es lógico... Pero asi se aprende a dibujar verdad... y mas si es a lapicero... alli es donde esta la dificultad.... porque si es a lápiz, se puede borrar, intenta borrar el lapicero :D

Feed Team

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:39:00 -0700

Feed Team

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:39:00 -0700

Feed Team

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Feed Team

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Feed Team

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Feed Team

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Feed Team

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Feed Team

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Feed Team

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:15:00 -0700

Feed Team

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Feed Team

noreply@blogger.com (gogolyaho) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:01:00 -0700