In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a National Day of Service, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada is hosting an all-ages volunteer event on Monday. The goals are to help fight hunger and foster a culture of service.

Jocelyn Lantrip, the food bank's director of marketing and communications, said the MLK National Day of Service event will include sorting and packing food donations, as well as bagging fresh produce for distribution. She said service is an integral part of the food bank's mission, and kids are welcome.

"We've been doing this a long time, but really it's a spectacle," she said. "It's not just a little session of volunteers -- it's a true party, and we get a lot done and we sort a lot of food. The 'littles' will bag some produce for distribution."

The volunteer session is from 12:45 to 3:30 p.m. at the Food Bank's regional food distribution center in Sparks. As of Thursday afternoon, Lantrip said, they had accepted about 200 volunteers, but there is a waitlist for those who might still want to participate. Volunteers can register online.

Lantrip said the food bank sees a significant amount of volunteerism and food donations during the holiday season, then both tend to decline substantially from January through the summer. She added that even if someone can't make it to Monday's event, there are plenty of other opportunities to help throughout the year.

"We have a lot of different sessions, sorting and packing food in our warehouse, but also handing food out at our distributions -- and those can be all through a lot of rural areas in Nevada as well," she said, "and they can sign up right on our website."

Annually, Lantrip said, about 3,600 volunteers donate 21,000 hours, which is the equivalent of 10 full-time employees. She said volunteers' time is the "most valuable commodity" in the battle to fight hunger. Almost 410,000 Nevadans face hunger, and almost 130,000 of them are children, according to the nonprofit Feeding America.

Groups working to end hunger in Nebraska are reaching out to all parts of the state to train food insecure people to advocate for others facing similar issues.

The advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed's Food Access Community Advocates Cohort educates people over nine months how to build advocacy, community organizing and storytelling skills, so they are better equipped to understand policies affecting the state's most food insecure people.

Megan Hamann, senior community organizer of food and nutrition access for Nebraska Appleseed, said having experienced hunger puts them in a better position to understand and talk about policy issues affecting hungry people in Nebraska.

"They have this lived experience that is really useful, I think, when it comes to making sure that our decision-makers know the impact of the policies they are considering," Hamann explained.

Nebraska Appleseed will start taking applications for new program participants Friday.

Hamann pointed out the number of food insecure people in Nebraska is greater now than it was during the pandemic, when demand at food banks was already high.

"I think with the passage of the recent federal budget reconciliation bill, we are looking forward to a period of time where that need is going to reach new extremes," Hamann projected.

This will be the fourth year of the cohort program. Many past participants have taken leadership roles in their communities and are now leading local efforts to educate others about the best ways to address food insecurity.


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It has been about three weeks since the Rowena Fire in Oregon's Columbia Gorge was put out, and the local food bank remains vital to recovery efforts.

The fire burned 3,600 acres in Wasco County, destroying 56 homes and 100 other structures.

Breen Goodwin, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Food Bank, said they are always prepared to assist during disasters with ready-to-eat emergency food boxes and water. She added many displaced families are living with relatives, in hotels, or camping and remain uncertain about their next steps.

"It is difficult in a community of our size to absorb housing needs for that many families who have lost homes," Goodwin acknowledged. "That next step of the recovery process of truly: 'How are those families being supported with more long term recovery efforts?'"

Breen pointed out the food bank has been serving as a distribution site to hand out supplies from Adventist Health of the Columbia Gorge and other organizations who donated nonfood items, including air purifiers, generators, hygiene supplies and stuffed animals for kids.

One of the biggest challenges, Breen noted, is keeping a supply of drinking water flowing once people start to return home.

"We're able to drop full pallets of water directly into the impacted communities because most of the time the drinking water is no longer safe until enough testing has been done," Breen explained.

The Columbia Gorge Food Bank is one of 21 regional food banks in the Oregon Food Bank Network. Breen emphasized the number of people visiting the food bank rose to about 6,500 per month during the pandemic and has remained at that level. People can visit OregonFoodFinder.org to find pantry locations in their area.

Indiana families are navigating the summer without SUN Bucks, a federal grocery benefit which delivered $120 per child last summer.

Gov. Mike Braun's administration chose not to participate in 2025, citing prior planning gaps.

Mark Lynch, director of advocacy for the Indy Hunger Network, said the funding blackout hit the state hard.

"We really are feeling and seeing the impacts of not having the SUN Bucks program this year," Lynch emphasized. "That $120 per summer for those students that they had last year have created some longer lines at our food pantries."

State leaders said administrative hurdles kept Indiana out of the program. Supporters argued skipping SUN Bucks puts pressure on food banks and leaves low-income families with fewer options.

Lynch noted to help bridge the gap, Indiana expanded its summer meal sites to include prepackaged meals, which do not require daily pickups.

"But there's school starting soon and they're giving their workers some time off for the summer, so that might be ending in the next week or two," Lynch explained. "That's just an example and that happens around the state in rural, suburban, and in city communities."

The Indy Hunger Network and other partners continue to support Hoosiers through tools like the Community Compass app, which shows nearby meal sites and grocery assistance programs.


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