Join us to Urge Policy Makers to Address Food Insecurity Crisis in COVID-19 Relief Efforts

There is an urgent and unprecedented food security crisis in Vermont. The Vermont Foodbank, NOFA, Hunger Free VT, and Vermont FEED, and Shelburne Farms have joined together to ask Vermont policy makers to commit funds to address this crisis now, including financial support for school and summer meal programs for children, a stimulus for schools to purchase food from Vermont farmers and producers, and support for the charitable food system.​

Read our 6/3/20 open letter to Vermont Policy Makers here.

Nonprofit organizations cannot solve the this on our own. We need your help urging the state to join us in these efforts to ensure everyone in Vermont has the food they need to maintain their health during this crisis.

There are actions for both organizations and individuals within this page.

Advocacy Actions for Individuals

We need your help ASAP to let Vermont legislators know that food security is a top priority as they allocate the Coronavirus Relief Funds that have been given to our state.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO 

  1. Look up your legislators here: https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2020
    1. Search by town and you will get a list of all of your legislators.
    2. You can click on each one to get their email address.
  2. Send an email to EACH of your legislators (separately)
    1. Your subject line should be something like: Please use CRF$ to support food security in Vermont.
    2. In the body, say that you support the Food Security Coalition’s request to allocate Coronavirus Relief Funds to address immediate food security needs in Vermont.
    3. BRIEFLY give YOUR PERSONAL reason for believing this is an important reason to spend the money this way. You can choose a talking point from below or tell a personal story or use your favorite data point. Try to keep it to 3 sentences for this part.
    4. Thank your legislator for their consideration and ask them to do whatever they can to support this request.
    5. Include your contact info (phone or email).

Some potential talking points (pick one and include your own thoughts also):

  • As we begin to emerge from the immediate COVID-19 emergency, Vermont is seeing alarming signs of increasing food insecurity for Vermonters and their families.
  • The State of Vermont cannot expect our schools and charitable food system to shoulder the entire burden without state support. 
  • The most recent data from Feeding America, released in mid-May, estimates the number of food insecure people in Vermont has increased by 46% and that child food insecurity in VT has increased by 60%.
  • No person living in Vermont should be worried about how they will get the food they need to be healthy.
  • Please do not allow our neighbors to fall further into poverty, to go to bed hungry so that their children can eat, or to choose between paying rent, buying food, or taking their medications.

THANK YOU for taking this action immediately to help us get the funds needed to make sure we can get food to Vermont families who need it.

Organization Sign On Letter

We are asking organizations to sign on to our open letter to policy makers, by completing the short form below.