Hunger Awarness Day

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 IS HUNGER AWARENESS DAY

Rally at Union Square, web site http://www.EndHungerinSF.org <http://www.endhungerinsf.org/> Featured in City-wide Campaign to End Hunger

(San Francisco) A city-wide poster campaign and noon rally at Union Square and will mark San Francisco's observance of National Hunger Awareness Day, Tuesday, June 5. One of every 5 San Franciscans faces hunger every day, according to hunger experts - and one of every four children. As poverty expands, the problem of hunger has grown with it.

The faces of hunger include the elderly woman whose Social Security check doesn't cover her expenses; the man living with AIDS who has just enough money to pay for rent and medications but not enough to buy food; the homeless family that relies on meal providers like St. Anthony's Dining Room for the nutritional support they need to survive; the child whose working mother has "too much month at the end of the money."

Three prominent "hunger fighters" will be available at Union Square to discuss this issue and put a human face on hunger in San Francisco and the Bay Area:

* Father John Hardin, OFM, Executive Director, St. Anthony Foundation. Every day, Saint Anthony's serves more than 2,500 plates of food to poor, disabled, elderly and working poor patrons - an increase of more than 25% in just the last five years.

* Paul Ash, Executive Director, San Francisco Food Bank. Every day, the San Francisco Food Bank distributes more than 108,000 pounds of food through neighborhood food pantries, community organizations and after school snack programs - enough food for more than 55,000 meals.

* Tom Nolan, Executive Director, Project Open Hand. Every day, Project Open Hand delivers more than 2,600 meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, homebound with a critical illness, and senior citizens, and distributes around 500 bags of groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS.

In addition, their three organizations have created billboards and bus signs <http://endhungerinsf.org/ehisf.pdf> that will be appearing across the city for observing Hunger Awareness Day. The billboards show a stylized figure with an empty stomach and feature the website, http://www.EndHungerinSF.org <http://www.endhungerinsf.org/> , which recommends actions to help end hunger in our city. For more information on San Francisco's Hunger Awareness Day, go to http://www.EndHungerInSF.org <http://www.endhungerinsf.org/> .