University of Wisconsin - Extension

One in ten people in Wisconsin live in households where there is not always enough food for good health. With more than 600,000 people in such households, hunger is a real issue for Wisconsin families.

To help address this need, Cooperative Extension is working in concert with the Wisconsin Food Security Consortium to raise awareness about food insecurity and poverty. The goal is to help low-income families gain knowledge and skills to improve their situations.

The Wisconsin Food Security Consortium is sponsoring the Wisconsin Hunger Summit Oct. 4 in Stevens Point to discuss emergency food programs; nutrition assistance programs; access to affordable and nutritious food; and family economic security.

Lynn Majewski, a scheduled speaker at the Hunger Summit, knows firsthand the pain of living without enough food. “I came into a situation where I had to use the food pantry to survive,” she says. “When you have kids to raise, you do whatever you can do.”

The Hunger Summit will help shape solutions for reducing hunger in Wisconsin, pulling together food providers, activists, public and private agency staff, educators, concerned citizens, members of the faith community, business leaders, local elected officials and anyone interested in reducing hunger in Wisconsin.

Keynote speaker Patti Whitney-Wise of the Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force will describe Oregon’s success in improving its former national ranking as the state with the second-highest percentage of residents with hunger.

Lynn Parker of the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C. will talk on efforts to reduce hunger at the national level.

Summit organizers have extended an invitation to Governor Jim Doyle to outline his administration’s plans for reducing hunger in Wisconsin.

To register for the Hunger Summit, view the agenda and learn more about the Wisconsin Food Security Consortium, visit http://www.wisconsinfoodsecurityconsortium.org