Food

Two thousand people are set to gather at the Kansas Pavilions with hopes of setting a Guinness World Record for the most hunger relief meals packaged in an hour. The Serving the Hungry at Home and in Haiti event was set up through Numana, Volunteer Kansas and the Downtown Rotary Club of Wichita. Guinness World Record officials will be on hand as an expected 350,000 meals are packaged in just one hour. The event runs from 10 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Pavilion II. The meals that are packaged will provide a hot lunch for 800 school children and their families in Lambert and Borde, Haiti.

Two women were eating dinner at Juni's Cafe on North Rock Road when they were robbed at gunpoint. A young man came in with a bandana over his face, holding a gun. He took their purses and ran away. Witnesses saw the incident from the parking lot. Police are still looking for him.

When you are trying to get fit or lose weight, there are monitors that track your steps, your sleep and your heart rate.  Are you ready for a fork that monitors your bites and how fast you eat? Developers introduced the HAPIfork at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  It's not on the market yet, but promises to be available in the fall.  It counts your bites, and gives a warning buzz if you're eating too fast. Read more about it here and tell me if you're ready for something like that. 

Fast food workers in New York City are protesting their employers, asking for raises and the right to unionize. Protestors gathered outside fast food restaurants like Burger King, McDonalds and Taco Bell. One KFC cashier participating in the protest says she has worked at the restaurant for eight years, and makes $7.75 an hour. That's fifty cents more than New York's minimum wage. The average pay for a fast food worker in New York City is $9.00 per hour. Protestors say they want to be paid $15.00 an hour.

Thousands of Kansas families don't know where their next meal is coming from, and the same is true for college students. That's why Wichita State University is working to open its own food pantry "A couple of the students said I have to choose, do I pay for tuition and housing or do I pay for food," said Multicultural Affairs Assistant Director Alicia Newell. The office of multicultural affairs came up with the idea for an empty bowls fundraiser. For a ten dollar donation each person got a bowl, a cup of soup, and the knowledge that this money would help build WSU's first food pantry.

As charities get ready to help thousands of families this holiday season, they know the need for food is year round. Local pantries usually see an increase of donations around Thanksgiving. Many hope the giving lasts beyond the holidays. "We are giving away 600 boxes today," said Holy Savior God's Food Pantry Organizer JoAnne Batiste. "So in two weeks we need 600 more boxes, it just builds and builds and builds. " The line outside Holy Savior's food pantry stretched to the corner.

For more than 30 years, a group of Wichita women gets together every Thursday to give back.  Their group doesn't have a name, they don't want recognition.  They just show up once a week at the Grant Chapel in north Wichita to provide some hot food, a cold drink and a little treat. They volunteer their time, but the food isn't free.  Without the help of the Kansas Food Bank, this Thursday tradition wouldn't be possible.  So when people thank them for the food, they say it's not just for them.  Those thank yous also go to the people who donate the food and money to make it happen.

It serves meals to hundreds of people each night in Wichita, but soon the Lord's Diner will be able to take the service on the road. The charity just bought a food truck and plans to put it into action this spring to help people in need in North Wichita. The Lord's Diner plans to hand out to-go dinners at the Evergreen Recreation Center near 25th and Arkansas every Monday through Thursday. The truck will then go to a different location on Fridays and the weekends to reach even more people in need.

Some kids look forward to the weekend. For others, the weekends are a time when they go hungry.  The hot meals at school can be the only filling meals that some children get. That's why the Kansas Food Bank started a program called Food 4 Kids back in September of 2004. Food 4 Kids was established for students who are "food insecure" and who are not getting sufficient food outside of school on a regular basis. The idea is to send these children home with a backpack full of nutritious pre-assembled bags of food on Friday each week.

More Americans are going hungry.  According to a new report by the Department of Agriculture, more than 50 million people living in the U.S, could not afford to buy food at some point in 2011.  The report says, children living in close to 4 million households suffered from food insecurity at times last year..  That's families unable to provide adequate, nutritious food.  Nearly 17 million Americans had to reduce how much they ate.  the food they...