Food Security United States Project #7590

Help Us Fight Hunger Across America

by Move For Hunger

Project Report | Aug 12, 2019
Pulling Together to Fight Hunger

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director/Founder

Truck Pulls have become Move For Hunger's signature fundraising event. They are exciting, fun, and a great way to raise awareness about hunger & food waste. What's not to love? Still, whenever I describe the Truck Pull to someone who's not familiar with the event, I always have to reassure them that it's not quite as difficult as it looks.

Our friends at Crown Relocations failed to tell us that the truck we used for the Second Annual New Jersey Truck Pull was loaded with 8,000 lbs. of cargo...in 90 degree heat! Needless to say, the participants got a real workout last weekend.

The event was once again hosted by our incredible partners at Crown Relocations. Each team had two attempts to see who could pull the truck 100 feet across the finish line in the shortest amount of time. The winners got to take home the coveted Truck Pull Championship trophies.

Bob Leotti’s team blazed out of the gate with a blistering 0:38 run. With a full 18-second lead over the next closest team after round 1, the lead seemed insurmountable. The second Crown team, however, having learned from Bob’s bunch, adjusted their approach and managed to complete their second run in just 0:36 to take home the win!

I led a team of Move For Hunger staff and interns, since the pull was here in New Jersey. Sadly, we couldn't get the truck to budge until some of the guys from Crown helped give us some momentum. If nothing else, this was yet another reminder that Crown Relocations is the extra muscle that Move For Hunger has counted on for the past 10 years.

When all was said and done, Crown Relocations had raised $20,900 to support our hunger relief and food rescue programs, which is nearly 2x the total from last year. Thank you to our sponsors, especially Victory Packaging, AVE, GDK Logistics, International Logistic Services, NOMAD Temporary Housing, Relocation Movers’ Services, ReloTrans Auto Relocation, Rose Containerline, and Wheaton Worldwide Moving.

The highlight of the day, for me, wasn't the competition, the music, or the postgame barbeque. It came during the opening remarks, when Bob Leotti became visibly emotional as he was sharing some of the startling statistics about hunger in the United States. First, he reminded the audience that 40 million Americans are facing hunger each day. Then he talked about specific demographics, like how 1 in 4 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced food insecurity. But it was when he mentioned that 1 in 6 children in the U.S. go to bed hungry each night, and pointed out the kids who were in attendance, one of whom was only a few weeks old, that Bob's voiced cracked. It was brief, but in that instant you could tell how important our cause was to him.

These numbers weren't news to Bob. Crown Relocations has supported Move For Hunger from the very beginning. These were statistics he's heard, read, or shared probably hundreds of times. It was clear, though, that Bob was thinking about the people beyond the talking points, and that's why that moment really resonated with me. Because even after a decade of fighting hunger, even though those numbers haven't declined as much as we would have liked, people like Bob and companies like Crown Relocations aren't discouraged...they're determined.

Move For Hunger will celebrate its 10th Anniversary on August 26, and although we’ve delivered more than 15 million lbs. of food over the last decade, there are still so many people who need our help. I hope I can count on you to host a food drive, hold a fundraiser, or make a donation to help us continue to pursue our vision of a world where no food goes to waste and everyone has enough to eat.

In addition to our 10th Anniversary, 2019 is also the Year of the Truck Pull! There's not much time to catch my breathe, because I will be heading to the Motor City next weekend for the 2nd annual Detroit Truck Pull, presented by Kroger. And, during Hunger Action Month in September, we'll also be holding Truck Pulls in Holmdel, NJ with Lowy's Moving Service, in West Branch, MI with Rob & Big's Moving Company, and Portland, OR with Chipman Relocation & Logistics. If you're in New Jersey, Michigan, or Oregon and want to register your team for one of these events, let me know! We'd love to see you out there!

Thank you again to everyone at Crown Relocations for helping us put together another great event and for the reminder that Move For Hunger's best work is yet to be done.

-Adam

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May 6, 2019
A Decade of Doing Good

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director

Move For Hunger is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2019, and we thought this was the perfect opportunity to acknowledge the amazing things we have accomplished together, to reflect upon what we have learned over the last decade, and to set a course for the road ahead.

Our network has delivered nearly 14 million lbs. of food over the last 10 years -- that's the equivalent of 11.8 million meals! We can't discuss our successes, however, without acknowledging some hard truths. There are still more than 41 million Americans struggling to put meals on the table every day. Although food waste is now widely recognized as a global catastrophe, we are still throwing away 40% of the food we produce each year. I don't say this to discourage you, because we have made some very important strides on both fronts. But we need to do more, plain and simple.

When I started Move For Hunger, I never expected that it would become the nationally-recognized organization it is today. I also didn't fully understand the scope of the problems I was attempting to solve. If the last 10 years have taught me anything, though, it's this: we can't do it alone.

Move For Hunger is continuing to expand our efforts into the multi-family space this year, where we're now working with more than 900 apartment communities! These new partnerships help us educate and engage more people than ever before to tackle the issues of hunger and food waste. We're also working more closely with our food banking partners across the country, because it takes partnership and collaboration to truly drive impact.

We have a lot of exciting things planned for the rest of the year, including the Team Ten Challenge fundraising competition! Click here to receive updates on the Challenge, details on the AMAZING prizes (Hamilton tickets and a trip to Cabo, anyone?) that you'll have a chance to win, and to learn more about how you can help us reach our goal to feed 3 million people in 2019!

Our 10th anniversary shouldn't just be an occasion to celebrate everything we have accomplished. It's a chance for us to imagine what Move For Hunger can become.

-Adam

Move For Hunger's first-ever delivery in 2009

Links:

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Feb 4, 2019
Our Best Year Ever

By Adam Lowy | Executive Director/Founder

You're never too young to hold a food drive!

Dear Friends,

Where does the time go?

Move For Hunger will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, and we have come a long, long way since our modest beginnings. It started with an impromptu family brainstorm. My brother, Max, doodled the logo on a napkin. When I was sitting alone in my dad’s conference room with my college laptop and a yellow legal pad, I could only hope to one day have an entire office and be surrounded by the best team anyone could ever ask for. Yet, here we are.

In 2018, we organized nearly 1,000 food drives, which is more than we ever have in a single year. The runners and walkers who turned their miles into meals with Team Move For Hunger raised $82,760, also a new record. And our network of multi-family apartment communities expanded from 129 properties to 700, a 442% increase.

Each of those accomplishments are a product of the foundation we have been building since 2009. We would not have been able reach any of those milestones without the moving companies who believed in our cause from day one. Move For Hunger could not have become the organization it is today without the partners who have provided us the support we needed to grow the network, introduce new programs, and scale our operations.

We can’t discuss our progress, however, without acknowledging that hunger and food waste are still as prevalent as they have ever been. There are still more Americans facing hunger today than there were before the Great Recession. Despite all of the attention our food waste epidemic has received, we are still throwing away 40% of the food we produce every year.

It would be impossible to solve these problems without collaboration. Fortunately, that is something we do extremely well. Move For Hunger is fostering community partnerships that will continue to grow organically for years to come. We are changing the way entire industries do business. We are challenging millions of people to confront the issues and providing them with an opportunity to do something about it. And, collectively, day-by-day, we are creating a more sustainable future.

Move For Hunger may have started at my desk, but it has always been about you. I am so proud of what we have accomplished together, but our focus must remain on the road ahead. Although we have a lot of momentum heading into 2019, that alone won’t carry us where we need to go. It’s time for us to take that next step. It’s time to move forward.

Thank you,

Adam Lowy

Executive Director

We Delivered 2.6 Million LBS. of Food in 2018

Team Move For Hunger Raised $82,000 last year

Our Multi-Family Apartment Program Keeps Growing

Links:

Check Out Our 2018 Year in Review

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