June 19, 2003

Greetings,

RE: Study Concerning the Nutritional Value of Emergency Food Hampers

I am currently employed as the summer nutrition student for House of Friendship's Emergency Food Hamper program in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, Ontario.

The Emergency Food Hamper Program serves more than 18,000 different people annually, 1/3 of whom are children 12 years of age and under. One of the Program's goals is to be the most progressive food bank in the country and in this regard, we are undertaking a number of projects related to nutrition and food bank-related issues.

In particular we are seeking assistance with respect to:

  1.. literature as it relates to food banks/food bank clientele and nutrition
  2.. how food hampers are assembled at different food banks?
Information gleaned via tips about existing literature will form the nutrition component of a larger, formal Program evaluation. More specifically, we plan to study the relationship between the nutritional values of food entering our building vs. the nutritional requirements of patrons receiving emergency food.  We plan to model our study similar to a study done with the food Bank of Delaware. There may well be other exciting resources and research that we are not aware of.

Information received regarding item 2 will be used as part of a study to determine the most effective way to pack food hampers for patrons in light of the fact that space constraints do not permit patrons to pack their own emergency food hampers. We are considering a new packing method that would be based on nutritional requirements reflective a personal circumstances rather than bulk numbers (e.g. a four year old female currently receives the same amount and type of food as an 18 year old male). Is anyone aware of other programs in the country that are packing emergency food hampers based on their nutritional values using Canada's Food Guide or the U.S.D.A. pyramid? Or is there currently any research being done in this area?

Though we may be meeting direct hunger needs through emergency food assistance, the question is whether or not the food hampers we are distributing are nutritionally inadequate. If there are other programs that are better meeting patrons nutritional needs through food hampers, then we would like to know how they are doing this, as well as where? Our focus is on the view of improving the program. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your assistance,

  Rose James

  Summer Nutrition Projects Coordinator
  House of Friendship
  Emergency Food Hamper Program
  807 Guelph Street, 
  Kitchener, ON N2H 5Z2
  phone/fax: 519-570-3976
  [log in to unmask]
  http://houseoffriendship.org

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