September is Hunger Action Month.

During September, Channel One is asking everyone to pledge to fight domestic hunger. We are excited to announce this year’s theme for Hunger Action Month: 30 Ways in 30 Days. Click here to visit our Hunger Action Month page and view our 30 Ways in 30 Days calendar.

We also encourage you to visit the national Hunger Action Month website where you will find daily ways to fight hunger. Each daily ‘way’ is easy, doable, and impactful. On the same site, you can take a My Way Pledge, choosing “your way” to continue the fight against hunger all month long. Everyone has their own strengths; take stock of yours, take the pledge, and then take a few minutes to look at some of the many suggestions on how to enact your pledge.

Harvest for the Hungry - Plant a Row for Channel One

Nothing beats the taste and nutrition of fresh picked vegetables. Growing and eating from your own garden can improve your health, save you money, increase your sustainability, and decrease your carbon footprint. And most important, your garden can help feed a lot of people in need.

There are over 84 million households with a yard or garden in the U.S. If every gardener plants one extra row of vegetables and donates their surplus to local food agencies and soup kitchens, a significant impact can be made on reducing hunger. Plant a Row is a program which encourages gardeners to plant one extra row of vegetables and donate their surplus to local food banks and food shelves. No matter how little space you have to plant an additional row of vegetables for giving, you can grow a great contribution!

Please consider planting a row to support Channel One. Click here to download our produce resource sheet. For more information on how Channel One can help move your extra garden produce into the hands of the people who need it most, contact Channel One Food Resource Coordinator Vince McCoy at 507-424-1722 or vincemccoy@channel-one.org.

Help us welcome our new Superhero....Souper Can!

Channel One has a new superhero and you helped us pick out the name. The winning name is...Souper Can! Souper Can will work to fill every empty plate and cupboard and to silence every grumbly tummy he can find !!

There was more than one submission with the winning name, and a winner was drawn from those entries. The winning entry was submitted by Amanda Welter of Stewartville. Amanda received fabulous prizes courtesy of Hy-Vee and The Canadian Honker. Special thanks to contest sponsors ABC 6 News and 102.5 The Fox.

March FoodShare Campaign a Success!

During March, Channel One participated in the March FoodShare campaign and joined with food shelves across Minnesota to collect donations of money and food that support our local efforts to help feed people in need and reduce hunger in our community. We are excited to announce that we made our goal, securing 217,722 pounds of food and $174,219! This was a record campaign for Channel One, and was the largest FoodShare Campaign in Minnesota this year! This is an amazing accomplishment, and we thank everyone who worked hard to make this year's campaign a success! For a list of top local campaigns in support of Channel One click here.

GiveMN.org

GiveMN.org is a great way to support Channel One! GiveMN covers transaction costs with the help of partners and funders so that 100% of donations go directly to Channel One. Click here to be directed to Channel One's GiveMN.org page. Thank you for your support!

Stay Connected to Channel One!

Channel One has an e-newsletter and we are on Facebook and Twitter! These are great ways to stay connected and get updated information on all of the exciting things happening at Channel One. Click on the Channel One E-news logo to read the latest version of our e-newsletter. To sign up and receive the e-newsletter automatically send an e-mail to Maggie Parham. And click on the Facebook and Twitter logos to become a fan of Channel One and check out our Tweets!

This fall the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, is continuing a revamped venison donation program that allows Minnesota deer hunters to donate deer to food shelves and feeding programs, including Channel One. In addition to providing an excellent source of protein to people in need, this program helps reduce local deer populations. Most of the changes in the program focus on how the venison is processed. In the past, most of the meat would be ground. Now, the meat will only be processed in whole muscle cuts, including roasts, chops, steaks, and stew meat.

In order to donate a deer, hunters must have their deer processed at a Minnesota Department of Agriculture-registered meat processing plant that has agreed to participate in the program. Registered processors in our area are: R Four Meats in Chatfield; Buck Ridge Meats in Millville; and Litschers Meat Processing in Rushford. All hunters looking to donate a deer are strongly advised to contact the processor before bringing in a deer to make sure they are still able to handle the animal. Again, it is important to note that hunters are not allowed to donate venison directly to a food charity - they must work with an approved processing plant.