The Hall Hunger Initiative, a local organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity, has hit a major milestone.
It became a nonprofit in January and is kicking off a fundraiser to support local projects. The organization was founded in 2015 by former Congressman and ambassador Tony Hall.
The organization offers micro grants to local organizations to address food insecurity, poverty and more. Currently, they are working with various local organizations including Miami Valley meals, Seven Seed Sowers and One Two Five Benefit.
The director of the Hall Hunger Initiative in Dayton, Mark Willis, said they connected to a number of farms that work with One Two Five Benefit to offer incentives to participate in climate smart practices.
"Because it's your first couple of years farming and you get this Ohio State professor saying, 'I want to talk to you about carbon and you don't know where your chickens are, and it hasn't rained in three weeks and you've got bills you're struggling to pay and somebody wants to talk to you about carbon,'" Willis said. "[You] don't have time, but if you say and we'll give you $500 for this conversation when the time comes, eventually they will make more money. It helps the environment, It's good for everybody."
Willis said the organization is keeping the focus local because they want to invest in local food systems.
“We can create good jobs around healthy food in disinvested areas," he said. "So that way people can eventually add to the food supply in the community, make a little bit of a living for themselves, and then instead of asking for food, they're now providing for food.”
This fall fundraising event will support repairs to a mobile pantry, a Thanksgiving dinner for families in need and offset the cost of produce donations from a regional urban farm.
Willis said the organization is asking for help to fund projects like these to expand their reach in the community.
“We're not going out and asking one person to give us $15,000 because we believe in community. You know, we've been fortunate. We've had a couple of big donors, but you don't get lottery tickets very often. We believe the way to continue is to build a big base of supporters and get them all involved in our work.”
