For every pound lost by Weight Watchers between Sept. 7th and Oct. 18, the equivalent of one pound of food will be donated to Share Our Strength or Action Against Hunger. David Kirchhoff CEO, Weight Watchers International We live in such an unusual time, given that so many people are struggling to get enough to eat, and yet obesity is a major health care issue around the world. Just look at these two statistics: 862 million people are underfed, and1.6 billion people are overweight or obese. What a startling imbalance. To contribute to righting this imbalance, we announced Lose for Good a couple of months ago, a new challenge to Weight Watchers Members to band together and invest in their own health while helping a neighbor in need. The goal was simple: For every pound lost by Weight Watchers between Sept. 7th and Oct. 18, we would donate the equivalent of one pound of food, up to a million dollars, to Share Our Strength or Action Against Hunger. In addition, our members and staff could contribute food locally to those who are having a hard time making ends meet. When we started planning earlier this year, it seemed a compelling way to motivate our members and do something good for the community. As the economy started to deteriorate, food banks started to get hit pretty hard with decreased donations and increased demand. Suddenly, Lose For Good began to feel more than just compelling. It became a call to action. All the results are not yet in, but we’re thrilled with preliminary results: - During this six week period, our meetings members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers say they lost more than an estimated 4 million pounds. - We met our goal, and will make a collective $1 million donation to those two outstanding hunger fighting organizations. - And Weight Watchers volunteers and staff organized food drives at over 2,050 locations coast to coast, donating about 1.5 million pounds of food to food banks. Here is just one of thousands of local examples of people doing great things to help their neighbors. In one of our meetings in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, our local team set up a Great Wall of Giving. For every 10 pounds of food donated, the Member received an honorary “faux” brick in the great wall of giving, woven together with nutritious food. Within six weeks, the group lost more than 1,000 pounds and donated food in that amount to the Salvation Army. We are proud of our contribution to fight hunger. We know other organizations are doing the same. We hope even more join us.        Less

Rachel Bristol CEO, Oregon Food Bank, Portland, Oregon It’s Oregon’s turn in the limelight. Presidential candidates are blazing a quick trail through the state as Oregonians turn in their ballots with the thought that this time ’round their late-primary vote will count. Crowds flock to hear the candidates talk about energy, the economy, education and health care. But when it comes to talking about hunger … they are silent. That’s why I sent a letter to all of the major candidates … red and blue … inviting them to visit Oregon Food Bank … to discuss their policy recommendations to eliminate hunger in the U.S. In many ways, our efficient, 108,000-square-foot warehouse symbolizes what’s off kilter in America today. The American dream has failed too many people in our nation. We are failing our children Children who are hungry get sick more often, have more difficulty learning in school, and may face long-term, irreversible health problems. To put it in perspective, yesterday afternoon 72,000 people crowded into and around Tom McCall Waterfront Park to hear Sen. Obama speak. Sen. Obama’s own campaign claimed it was the largest crowd he’s attracted so far. 72,000. That’s how many children in Oregon and southwest Washington eat meals from an emergency food box every month. 72,000. Every month. We are failing our senior citizens Seniors often are forced to choose between food and medicine. We are failing our workers Family-wage jobs continue to disappear. Forty-seven percent of households seeking emergency food had at least one member who worked. That’s up from 43 percent in 2004 and 37 percent in 1996. These are people who are doing the right things … working hard … often more than one job … but still must seek emergency food boxes to put food on the table. If you want to boost reading scores and graduation rates … if you want to increase worker productivity … if you want to fight sickness and disease … start by making sure people have enough nutritious food to eat. Oregon Food Bank is the hub of an efficient, statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 919 hunger-relief agencies, serving all of Oregon as well as southwest Washington. Last fiscal year, Oregon Food Bank Network distributed almost 56 million pounds of food. But this building and these agencies don’t have to exist at all. National policy and priority funding could literally end hunger in a matter of months. I sent my letter to Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Representative Ron Paul. The only response we received was a phone call from Sen. Clinton’s national office thanking us for our invitation and telling us her office would keep Oregon Food Bank in mind as it visited the state. We need to ask the candidates How can we succeed as a nation when people are hungry? Do you know how many people without insurance in our emergency rooms are there because they haven’t eaten regularly? Do you understand the link between hunger and declining math scores or increasing dropout rates in America? What are you going to do to eliminate hunger in America? Less

Erica Hill 360° Correspondent Does your neighbor have enough to eat? Can they afford milk, fresh vegetables for their kids? Yes, the people next door who look just like you…they have a mortgage, one — maybe two — cars, and a mounting pile of bills they can’t pay. There are 35 million Americans at risk of going hungry tonight, and they’re not all homeless or unemployed. The “new” hungry Americans are educated, middle-class folks — many have full-time jobs — and their cupboards are bare. Here in NYC, the main food bank for the five boroughs has seen a 73 percent increase in people with full-time jobs coming in for help. Food pantries are their last resort, but many are too proud or to embarrassed to let anyone know they need the help. I was at a food pantry in Stamford, CT yesterday where one woman told me she couldn’t speak to me on camera because there it was too risky; one of her friends might recognize her. One of the staff members there told me she saw a person from another town come through the line, clearly there to avoid being seen. She also pointed out two men who had “dressed down”, trying to blend in. In Brooklyn on Tuesday, we met a woman who personifies this crisis. She was stunning — totally put together, attractive…you’d expected to see her having lunch at the table next to you. She had a successful career as an administrative assistant before retiring a few years ago. She never thought she’d need help, but there she was at the pantry. It was her second trip, and she seemed so ashamed. She was incredibly gracious and kind, but she, too, didn’t dare get near the camera for fear someone would learn her secret. There is, of course, nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about, but I can understand why any of these people would feel that way. You work your whole life, do all the right things, pay your bills, go to work…only to find that it’s not enough anymore to put food on the table. Tomorrow, postal carriers around the country will hold the 16th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. This is a chance for ALL of us to help. One box of cereal or pasta, a few cans of vegetables, a jar of pasta sauce can do so much. I have one plea before you empty your cabinets: only donate items you would eat. Expired canned goods and other inedible items increasingly find their way into the donation bin. “The quality of the food is dropping in some respects,” Kate Lombardo, Executive Director of the Lowe Fairfield County (CT) Food Bank told me. “Which is not to offend the donor, it’s just to express to donors that if you don’t want it on your table, then the poor are not any less of an individual or human being just because they‘re poor. They’re just in a financial state that they don’t want to be in.” For more information on the food drive, log onto Help Stamp Out Hunger. Less

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on assignment in Lima, Peru.  Watch his behind-the-scenes look at how the country is dealing with a looming food crisis. How has the rising cost of food affected you? Less