Minutes

Executive Committee Meeting
Palmer, Alaska
August 31, 2001

In attendance:

Samantha Castle-Kirstein, Fairbanks
Wendell Otness, Fairbanks
Susannah Morgan, Anchorage
George Hieronymus, Anchorage
Diane Disanto, Anchorage
David Steelman, Anchorage
Sara Jackson, Anchorage

Discussion of whom will step in to the Commissioner's position when Karen Purdue leaves in October. It will probably be Jay Livey or Russ Webb. We need to stabilize our support in Juneau. Karen really championed our cause and we need to build upon existing relationships to insure that her departure does not negatively impact our coalition.

In FY '02 we have $100,000 built into the budget in general funds. $10,000 of that amount is for training and building infrastructure.

Headline News

George Hieronymus has accepted a position with the Rasmusson Foundation and is resigning as treasurer of the Food Coalition. Susannah Morgan was appointed by Sam to assume his duties. Time permitting, George would like to continue to be involved with the Food Coalition until or unless his participation becomes a conflict of interest.

We had a general discussion of why the Food Coalition exists and what it means to each of our programs. Listed were:

• Camaraderie
• Expanded Network (exposure to FRAC)
• More food
• Education and Training
• Bridge to legislature
• Greater understanding of food issues statewide
• Greater understanding of food issues nationally
• More political power as a group
• A place to bring our concerns
• Shared resources

Did we meet our goals for 2001?

We accidentally exceeded our goal of spending our $90,000 grant by the end of April 2001. We ordered food from the Food Bank of Alaska without including the cost of the handling fees. The total cost was $107,000.00. The State of Alaska came through with the additional $17,000 needed.

We succeeded in getting our web page up and running.

We need to continue to advocate for free and reduced breakfast at school. We identified logistical problems that many schools are facing. We need to try to increase the sites. Try to get Joan and Nancy to report at the quarterly meeting and then set our new goals. Members are encouraged to attend all or part of the Alaska Child Nutrition Conference, Oct. 1-3, 2001, at the Egan Center in Anchorage.

Our grant has been expanded to $100,000, expressly to cover training in the next year.

We have not expanded geographically. The Food Bank is going to start to include Coalition information in its newsletters. We will do statewide outreach - push the website.

We have not made any progress toward a consistent method of data collection among members. Until we do that, it is going to remain very difficult to establish a baseline of hunger in the state of Alaska. How do we effectively measure the need? Sara will ask for volunteers at the quarterly meeting to join her on a committee to develop an action plan before this year's annual meeting.

We need to continue to encourage members to invite their legislators to their site and educate them about the needs in their own community.

Goals for 2002

• Consistent data
• Consistent product
• Strengthen coalition
• Diversify
• Develop professionally
• Define baseline of hunger in the state
• Identify underlying causes statewide
• Identify solutions
• Take appropriate action

Susannah will chair a committee to prepare a budget with specific goals by January 2002.

We will have recommendations for how to spend the $10,000 training allotment by the October teleconference. Sam will do an agenda for that meeting.

We need to set our statewide hunger awareness PR campaign for 2003 - after we have collected sufficient data to establish a baseline and identified causes and solutions.

Diane will talk with the general membership at the October meeting about the upcoming political transition. George will talk about the Special Grant fund policy.

We had some fun brainstorming what we would do if money were no option.

Susannah said priorities for her were training for members, defining the baseline, and putting together a Hunger Summit. Wendell talked about hiring an executive director or coordinator for the Food Coalition. It is difficult for people who are on the front lines of food distribution to find the time to collect information. George would like to see us offering education to the families we serve on shopping, cooking, sharing resources. Educate the business community. Ship more food out to remote areas. David would like to celebrate what we do. Have more publicity. Open eyes in Juneau. Spend money on Direct Services. Offer infant formula, diapers and Ensure. Diane would like to see us have a Food Coalition Coordinator paid by the State or the Federal Government. She would like us to have a coordinated transportation system to get the food out. Increased direct funding for food for rural areas. Sam says she is hearing a mixed message from us on how funds should be expended. She thinks that communities receiving direct services should be required to come up with matching funds to prove that they have community support. Susannah said that first we need to train people how to get community funds. Sam wants funds to go to training and professional development, consistent data collection, baseline hunger study, and educating the consumers.

The meeting concluded with thank yous and congratulations to George.