The Aug. 6-8 meeting in Sonoma County included about 325 people, such as chefs and restaurateurs, and featured speakers ranging from Mike McCurry, the former Clinton Administration spokesman, to Jeff Swartz, the chief executive of outdoor apparel maker Timberland.

The group, launched in 1984, has a market-based view of tackling  hunger problems by combining resources of non-profit organizations, corporations and the government, thereby moving beyond ideas of solving social problems solely through government largesse .

"One thing that came out of the meeting is that though we've already done so much to make a difference, like raising a lot of money, there's more that we can do. There's still a problem," said Maura Walsh Rogan, a Share Our Strength spokeswoman who was at the meeting.

Walsh Rogan added that the persistence of hunger problems in the context of a record U.S. economic expansion, the lowest unemployment in 30 years and a spiking stock market, make the organization all the more focused on its task.

Share Our Strength, or SOS, says one in five children, or about 11 million kids, do not eat regular meals in the United States and that a total of 31 million Americans, or about 11% of the whole U.S. population, don't regularly eat enough.  SOS was relying on data from Bread for the World, a fellow anti-hunger group.

Many hunger groups are fighting to do things like raise the minimum wage in America to help those who are fully employed but can't quite feed their families on their incomes. Sources also say that mental illness and homelessness exacerbate hunger problems in America.

SOS raises money and in-kind resources through corporate partners and through events like its "Taste of the Nation" food and wine tastings in 80 cities around the United States.  It charges participants at the events anywhere from $25 to $250.

The group doles out much of the $60 million it has raised in its 16 years of existence to organizations that have solid plans for spending it on the hunger problem.  But it also spends some of the money on its own programs, notably "Operation Frontline."

"Operation Frontline" is a cooking and nutrition training program offered in several U.S. cities involving high-profile chefs like Rick Moonen of Oceana in New York City. Volunteering chefs like Moonen show the needy how to do things like butcher or cook chicken with a view to get as many calories out of the bird as possible.  Moonen is one of a total of around 10,000 people who volunteer for Share Our Strength.

Corporate partners like Tyson Inc., the No. 1 U.S. chicken producer, donate things like chickens as well as cash. The Arkansas-based company recently penned a three-year deal with SOS worth $10 million in cash and in-kind resources.

Other partners donating to SOS include financial services giant American Express Co., French mineral water producer Evian and the beer maker Coors.  SOS raised $21 million through Amex's "Charge Against Hunger" program, which ended in 1997.  

Food world partners include equipment retailer Williams-Sonoma and others like Freshnex.com, which sells fresh ingredients to restaurants online, and StarChefs.com, a Web site featuring elite chefs that has plans to be an e-commerce portal for both food-industry professionals and  consumers. 

To donate to SOS or to learn more about hunger in America, go to www.strength.org/share/donate.htm

-- Oliver Ludwig

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StarChefs Newsroom: news