FRAC News

The Food Research and Action Center issues a weekly bulletin that highlights news about nutrition and hunger. A couple of items caught my eye:

The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that 754,000 people, including those who lived in shelters, transitional housing and on the street, were homeless in 2005. The nation has 300,000 more homeless people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing, the agency said. HUD officials hope the new report will serve as a starting point to measure the elusive homeless population more accurately and better understand homelessness.

And...

A record 56,047 families from the District of Columbia were on waiting lists for public housing and Section 8 vouchers in November 2006, according to the D.C. Housing Authority. This figure is up 7 percent from the same period in 2005. Every day about 300 families are waiting for a spot in D.C. Village, an emergency shelter that has fewer than 70 beds and is known for crowding, infestations and other problems

It is sometimes hard to see the people in need all around us, but how trying these times must be to so many thousands of families struggling to make it. There but for the grace of God ....

FRAC had more upbeat news, a link to Dole's rollout of a pilot program for healthy vending machines:

In a partnership with national organizations, Dole Food Company is planning to launch a pilot program that will introduce to schools new vending machines featuring healthy food products. With help from the School Link Technology software, the machines will offer students fresh fruit snacks and meals made by the company in conjunction with cafeteria-prepared salads, sandwich wraps and milk. All foods chosen for the vending machines are approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and reimbursable under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. In the first phase of the Dole pilot, vending machines will be installed in 15 schools located in Mesa, Ariz., Denver, Colo., Shawnee Mission, Kan., Corpus Christi, Texas and Conroe, Texas.

Dole's program sounds like a winner. Finding the right mix of products - and keeping those products at optimal freshness - will be key.