1. Grand Canyon University
LDR 625 Organizational Cultural & Team Leadership
M7 Red Team CLC
Happy Hearth Foundation
Chefs on Wheels Community Project
Danielle Crisp
Marcie Jenkins-Williams
Jody Martinez
Mohamed Soliman
April 04, 2012
1

2. The Happy Hearth Foundation is a not for profit service
organization where we will bring together numerous
impoverished families and community volunteers including:
chefs, cooks, culinary students, restaurateurs, educators,
nutritionists in an effort to combat hunger, and malnutrition
through education and volunteerism in effort to build
relationships within the family and within communities.
The Happy Hearth Foundation will raise money to support it’s
first initiative, Chefs on Wheels. Where great chefs, culinary
experts, restaurant industry and home cooks will come to the
homes of impoverished families with good quality foods, and
fresh produce from local growers and community gardens to
cook with those families, teach them about food and nutrition,
and sit with them to eat the meal they prepared. There will be
opportunities to provide information about where to find good
quality food from local growers, and tips to prepare healthy,
nutritious, good tasting meals.
Family members of all ages can learn that eating a home
cooked meal can be yummy, fun, and good for the tummy!
Parents and care givers can be introduced to produce that they
may not be aware from home delivery food services, local
farmers, food cooperatives, and community gardens. Food can
be just as affordable as unhealthy processed foods. 2

3. Families will also be given information on how to pay forward their knowledge and
experience, and to encourage volunteerism in their own community garden.
Information and assistance will be provided to match families with other families who
can work together to support each other in building a healthy community garden and
a healthy community.
2

4. According to 2012 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and
Statistics and the World Hunger Education Service:
Hunger is a term which has three meanings (Oxford English
Dictionary 1971)
the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving
appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused by want of food
the want or scarcity of food in a country. A strong desire or
craving.
World hunger refers to the second definition, aggregated to
the world level. The related technical term (in this case
operationalized in medicine) is malnutrition.1
Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or
all nutritional elements necessary for human health (Medline
Plus Medical Encyclopedia).
There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most
important is protein-energy malnutrition--the lack of enough
protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides
energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food 3
groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred

5. to when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very
important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of
malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly
very important.
[Recently there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of
malnutrition. Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual
meaning of the term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs. 2 It is
poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack of calories, but rather too
many (although poor food choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem).
Obesity will not be considered here, although obesity is certainly a health problem
and is increasingly considered as a type of malnutrition.]
Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is the most lethal form of malnutrition/hunger. It
is basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted into energy by humans,
and the energy contained in food is measured by calories. Protein is necessary for
key body functions including provision of essential amino acids and development and
maintenance of muscles.
Number of hungry people in the world… 25 million hungry people in 2010
No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most
frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,
which measures 'undernutrition'. The FAO did not publish an estimate in its most
recent publication, 'The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011' as it is
undertaking a major revision of how it estimates food insecurity (FAO 2011 p.
10). The 2010 estimate, the most recent, says that 925 million people were
undernourished in 2010 (FAO 2010). As the figure below shows, the number of
hungry people has increased since 1995-97.. The increase has been due to three
factors: 1) neglect of agriculture relevant to very poor people by governments and
international agencies; 2) the current worldwide economic crisis, and 3) the
significant increase of food prices in the last several years which has been devastating
to those with only a few dollars a day to spend. 925 million people is 13.6 percent of
the estimated world population of 6.8 billion. Nearly all of the undernourished are in
developing countries.
Number of hungry people, 1969-2010
Source: FAO
3

6. In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an estimated 925
million hungry people in the world, 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.
The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. The FAO first estimates the total
food supply of a country and derives the average per capita daily food intake from
that. The distribution of average food intake for people in the country is then
estimated from surveys measuring food expenditure. Using this information, and
minimum food energy requirements, FAO estimates how many people are likely to
receive such a low level of food intake that they are undernourished.3
Under-nutrition is a relatively new concept, but is increasingly used. It should be
taken as similar to malnutrition. (It should be said as an aside, that the idea of
undernourishment, its relationship to malnutrition, and the reasons for its emergence
as a concept is not clear to Hunger Notes.)
Children are the most visible victims of under-nutrition. Children who are poorly
nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at
least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million
deaths. Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and
malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an
underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia
(52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can also be caused
by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's ability to
convert food into usable nutrients.
According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as
measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of
three (de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of malnourished children
live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. In
many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother. Under-
nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants
born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also
causes learning disabilities, mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and
premature death.
Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?
The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17
percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent
3

7. population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least
2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the most recent estimate
that we could find.(FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the
world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
What are the causes of hunger?
What are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers.
Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.
The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal
income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger
itself. As of 2008 (2005 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were an
estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day
or less.3 This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished
people. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing
regions, despite some progress that reduced "dollar--now $1.25-- a day" poverty from
(an estimated) 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the
period. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially,
East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the
number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The statement that 'poverty is
the principal cause of hunger' is, though correct, unsatisfying. Why then are (so
many) people poor? The next section summarizes Hunger Notes answer.
Harmful economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger.
Hunger Notes believes that the principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is
the ordinary operation of the economic and political systems in the world. Essentially
control over resources and income is based on military, political and economic power
that typically ends up in the hands of a minority, who live well, while those at the
bottom barely survive, if they do. We have described the operation of this system in
more detail in our special section on Harmful economic systems.
Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty.
At the end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest level in almost a
3

8. quarter of a century. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements, the last three
years have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers, due primarily to the
violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of
refugees under UNHCR’s mandate exceeded 10 million. The number of conflict-
induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached some 26 million worldwide at the
end of the year . Providing exact figures on the number of stateless people is
extremely difficult But, important, (relatively) visible though it is, and anguishing for
those involved conflict is less important as poverty (and its causes) as a cause of
hunger. (Using the statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic hunger
while 36 million people are displaced [UNHCR 2008])
Hunger is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger.
By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger
can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability to work and learn, thus
leading to even greater hunger.
Climate change
Climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and
poverty. Increasing drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift
in crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished are three key
issues. See the Hunger Notes special report: Hunger, the environment, and climate
change for further information, especially articles in the section: Climate change,
global warming and the effect on poor people such as Global warming causes
300,000 deaths a year, study says and Could food shortages bring down civilization?
(worldhungerord).
References
www.worldhungerord. Retrieved April 1, 2012 from
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger% 20facts%202002.htm
3

9. The Happy Hearth Foundation will build collaborative
relationships with several local and multinational organizations
to roll out the Chefs on Wheels initiative. According to experts,
“Complex social problems - global poverty, racial inequality,
and environmental degradation, for example… involve sets of
interconnected problems that resist simple solutions by
independent organizations…. Cross-sector strategies are
increasingly assumed to be superior to – or more desirable
than – independent approaches when it comes to working on
the public agenda…. There is a growing perception that
[collaboration is] necessary for the effective resolution of
social ills…. Collaboration refers to ‘the linking or sharing of
information, resources, activities, and capabilities’” (Knapp &
Siegel, 2009, p. 38-9).
References
Knapp, J. C., & Siegel, D. J. (2009). The Business of higher
education. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group
4

10. Due to the need around the world to meet our goals, there
must be a leadership structure and style that is focused on
building teams around the world in several communities who
best know how to meet the needs of their stakeholders. These
teams can share best practices that they’ve learned over the
way with new leaders and new communities that the
organization will spread to.
The organization must establish connections with those
interested in becoming volunteers. Leaders must do the leg
work in finding local growers, cooperatives, and food
manufacturers who are interested in supporting the effort to
bring healthy, nutritious food to impoverished members of the
community who have had limited access to good food.
The number of employees will be limited to those who can
fundraise, collaborate, and bring volunteers together with
families in need.
Employee roles will be in clusters of communities around the
world and will include:
Board of Directors
Executive Director
Fundraising Manager 5
Budget & Finance Manager

11. Public Relations Manager
Advertising & Marketing Manager
Office Manager
Web Master
Events Manager
Human Resources Manager
Volunteer Coordinators
Intake Coordinators
Community Advisors
Development
Nutrition
Accounting
Drivers
5

12. Organizational Plan for Happy Hearth Foundation and Chefs on
Wheels
Chefs on Wheels is a nonprofit organization committed to
reducing hunger among poor families in America and around
the World. Its primary goals are to provide free or low cost
food to needy families, to educate family members about
nutrition and to bring families and the community together
over healthy and affordable meals.
Leadership will include the Director and a governing board. The
board of Chefs on Wheels will be made up of volunteers who
are committed to the vision and mission and are collaborative
partners in achieving the goals of the project. Each board
member will serve as head of a committee made up of
volunteers. These committees will include such things as
volunteer services, finance, physical resources, family contact,
and project evaluation. The Board will do a feasibility study to
determine needs of the community, explore available resources
and develop a data base of eligible families. An important step
will be to contact other service organizations to determine
currently available services (find a need-fill it) The board will
explore possible free services/donations such as facilities, food,
6
transportation, printing, nutritionists, medical personal, drivers,

13. etc. to develop a pool or human and physical resources available to move the project
forward.
Once the need has been established, the next step is to explore possible sources of
funding such as grants, donations, sponsorships or service organizations. The finance
committee will be formed to determine project services and costs and develop a
budget based on needs and available funds.
A human resources committee will canvas for volunteers to support the organization
and develop a data base of volunteers’ time and expertise as well as determining the
number necessary to provide services. This committee will be responsible for
coordinating eligible families with services provided. They will determine how many
members in the family, what are their dietary requirements, how often will food
services be provided, how will families be connected to community gardens and
volunteer chefs.
A committee will plan ways to advertise the service – pamphlets, brochures, letters,
etc. that can be mailed or placed in clinics and hospitals. This committee will also
develop a survey to determine clients’ satisfaction and get feedback on services,
quality of food, timeliness, etc.
6

14. According to Cornell Education:
A non-profit organization is a group organized for purposes
other than generating profit and in which no part of the
organization's income is distributed to its members, directors,
or officers. Non-profit corporations are often termed "non-
stock corporations." They can take the form of a corporation,
an individual enterprise (for example, individual charitable
contributions), unincorporated association, partnership,
foundation (distinguished by its endowment by a founder, it
takes the form of a trusteeship), or condominium (joint
ownership of common areas by owners of adjacent individual
units incorporated under state condominium acts). Non-profit
organizations must be designated as nonprofit when created
and may only pursue purposes permitted by statutes for non-
profit organizations. Non-profit organizations include churches,
public schools, public charities, public clinics and hospitals,
political organizations, legal aid societies, volunteer services
organizations, labor unions, professional associations, research
institutes, museums, and some governmental agencies.
Non-profit entities are organized under state law. For non-
profit corporations, some states have adopted the Revised
Model Non-Profit Corporation Act (1986). For non-profit
associations, a few states have adopted the Uniform
Unincorporated Non-Profit Association Act (See Colorado §§ 7- 7
30-101 to 7-30-119). Some states exempt non-profit

15. organizations from state tax and state employment programs such as unemployment
compensation contribution. Some states give non-profit organizations immunity from
tort liability (see Massachusetts law giving immunity to a narrow group of non-profit
organizations) and other states limit tort liability by enacting a damage cap. State law
also governs solicitation privileges and accreditations requirements such as licenses
and permits. Each state defines non-profit differently. Some states make distinctions
between organizations not operated for profit without charitable goals (like a sports
or professional association) and charitable associations in order to determine what
legal privileges the respective organizations will be given.
For federal tax purposes, an organization is exempt from taxation if it is organized and
operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, public safety, literary,
educational, prevention of cruelty to children or animals, and/or to develop national
or international sports. Social security tax is also currently optional although 80
percent of the organizations elect to participate (cornell.edu).
References
Non-profit organizations: an overview. Retrieved April 01, 2012 from
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/Non-profit_organizations
7

16. According to Hunger Action Center:
Child Hunger
Although the United States is the wealthiest nation in the
world, millions of children in our nation are food insecure,
meaning they are either currently hungry or nearing hunger.
Children who are undernourished are at greater risk for serious
health, social, and educational problems. Today, many public
food-assistance programs and private organizations strive to
meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable children, but more
needs to be done to fight child hunger.
The Impact of Child Hunger
Child hunger affects many aspects of children’s lives, from
physical and mental development to emotional well being.
Below are some of the issues associated with childhood
hunger.
Health Risks Associated with Undernourishment
8
Children from many poor families receive less than 70 percent

17. of the recommended daily intake of major nutrients. This deficiency translates into
increased risk for serious and costly health problems, including anemia, impaired
cognitive development, and stunted growth. Children suffering from hunger or near
hunger are also less likely to have access to sufficient medical care.
Behavioral and Social Development
Food insufficiency also hinders children’s social development. Studies show that child
hunger may be linked to behavioral problems, delayed social development, anxiety,
and other emotional problems.
Education
For emotional, cognitive, and physical reasons, a hungry or undernourished child
faces significant educational challenges. School attendance and academic
performance both suffer due to student undernourishment. Food insufficiency—
often caused by missed breakfast—diminishes a child’s ability to retain knowledge,
concentrate, and develop language and math skills.
Policy Recommendations to Fight Child Hunger
Ending childhood hunger is an important battle. The challenges our children face
today impact how well they’re able to achieve their full potential. Below are some of
the ways we’re fighting to end hunger for America’s children:
Ensure that Children Have the Nutrition They Need at School
Children need nutrition to help them grow and learn. Established in 1946, the
National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program were
designed to help fill this need. These programs play critical roles in providing quality
nutritious meals to millions of children every day for free or at a reduced cost.
Children from families at or below 130 percent of the poverty level qualify for free
meals, and children from families between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level
qualify for meals at a reduced price. Unfortunately, many children from working poor
families often cannot even afford the reduced rate.
While nearly 18 million children qualified for free or reduced-price meals in 2007, just
over 8 million of these children participated in the School Breakfast Program. The old
adage is true: breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for children.
Some schools do not offer the School Breakfast Program, and in others logistical
8

18. barriers, such as bussing schedules, don’t allow enough time for children to eat
breakfast before the school day begins. To reach more children, the level of
reimbursement for the School Breakfast Program should be increased to encourage
more schools to participate.
Expand Access to Quality Nutrition in the Summer
Food pantries, soup kitchens, and other charitable food assistance organizations
report seeing an increased need for food assistance for children during summer
months. While nearly 18 million children participated in the free or reduced-cost
school meal programs in 2007, only 2 million received daily assistance through the
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). One of the largest barriers to serving more
children in the summer is that there are not enough organizations willing to sponsor
the program. The administrative and policy barriers to this program should be
streamlined to encourage more agencies to participate, bringing meal service to
more children in communities nationwide.
Improve Access to Nutrition Afterschool
For too many children, access to complete nutritious meals is limited to what children
receive at school. This leaves evenings, weekends, and vacations where children may
be lacking adequate nutrition. In 2007, the Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) provided congregate snacks and meals to over 3 million children and seniors
in daycare homes, centers, and afterschool care. There are currently only 14 states
that receive supper reimbursement for service to children through the CACFP At-Risk
Afterschool program. In other states, afterschool programs, like Kids Cafes, are often
serving complete meals to children, but only being reimbursed at the snack rate.
Improvements can be made to reach more children outside of school hours by
expanding the number of states that can serve meals to children in these “at-risk”
areas (hungeractioncenter.org).
References
Hunger Action Center. Feeding America. Retrieved April 01, 2012 from
http://hungeractioncenter.org/issues.aspx
8

19. According to Jamie Oliver Celebrity Chef and Foundation Head
“we need a Food Revolution”:
We're losing the war against obesity in the US. It's sad, but
true. Our kids are growing up overweight and malnourished
from a diet of processed foods, and today's children will be the
first generation ever to live shorter lives than their parents. It's
time for change. It's time for a Food Revolution.
"Since I've been working in America, I've been overwhelmed by
the number of people who have come out to support the Food
Revolution. More than 630,000 people have signed the
petition, over 300,000 of you subscribe to our newsletter and
thousands of you have written to me. The only message I keep
hearing is that you believe your kids need better food, and that
you want help to keep cooking skills alive. That's why this Food
Revolution matters."
The problem stems from the loss of cooking skills at home and
the availability of processed foods at every turn, from the
school cafeteria to church function halls, factories and offices.
This Food Revolution is about saving lives by inspiring
everyone: moms, dads, kids, teens and cafeteria workers to get 9
back to basics and start cooking good food from scratch.

20. Jamie's ambition
A national movement to change the way America eats
Jamie wants to mobilize the huge response to the Food Revolution so far and turn it
into a movement for change in which America leads the world. It will bring together
millions of people and inspire the nation to fight obesity with better food. At its heart
is a powerful strategy to get people cooking again. Here are some of the ways we'll be
doing that:
More cooking at home
A nationwide network of community kitchens where anyone can go to learn
basic home cooking
Jamie's home cooking course
Freshly cooked meals at school
An activist program to support parents who want better food in their child's
school
A community website to encourage grass-roots activities for change all over
the US
Cooking in the community
The Food Revolution truck, a mobile food classroom and flagship center for
the Food Revolution
A cooking course available in church halls, community and healthcare centers
and the workplace
Schools and Communities - to inspire and educate parents, carers, young adults and
children through:
Freshly cooked meals in schools and colleges
Cooking lessons for kids at school
Lessons teaching basic food skills to healthcare and social care professionals
Cooking classes for the public in the community
Corporations - to promote culture change and encourage community investment on
several levels:
Food industry - help to tackle obesity by producing better food products and
labeling products in a more honest way
Healthcare sector - investing in future health means cost savings down the
9

21. line
Employee health - provide better food for employees in company canteens
and provide cooking classes for employees to give them the skills they need to
be healthy
Jamie Oliver Foundation
FIFTEEN
The flagship Restaurant, Fifteen London, established in 2002 with two other locations
following the same inspirational model: Fifteen Amsterdam (in 2004), Fifteen
Cornwall (in 2006). At the heart of the business is the desire to enable young people
to believe in themselves and persuade them the future is theirs to create. Every year,
each restaurant takes on unemployed and under-qualified young people and trains
them to become qualified chefs through a unique Apprentice Programme. They are
taught to love and respect food and its provenance – taking in everything from
traditional bakery and butchery, to the finest pastry skills.
The name 'Fifteen' comes from the original group of 15 apprentices who joined the
London programme in 2002. Since then, more than 220 young people have graduated
across all the restaurants, with some of them now running their own restaurants,
starring on TV or working in top-class kitchens from London to New York to Sydney.
Jamie's School Dinners / Feed Me Better (established 2003)
The 2005 TV show, Jamie's School Dinners, uncovered the appalling quality of food
served in school dining halls across the UK and subsequently Jamie started the Feed
Me Better campaign, a petition to demand government intervention, funding and
training for dinner ladies to address the problem.
Jamie received 271,677 signatures and in response the government established the
School Food Trust whose mission is "to transform school food and food skills,
promote the education of health of children and young people and improve the
quality of food in schools.“
Jamie's Ministry of Food (established 2008)
Ministry of Food is all about getting people cooking again. Jamie wants to show us
that anyone can learn to cook – and that it's fun, cool, can save you money and help
you, your family and friends to live a healthier life. It also promotes the idea of Pass It
On, to encourage people to share their cooking skills with other people and teach
9

22. their friends what they have learnt.
Kitchen Garden Project
We teach primary school children the joys of growing and cooking their own food in
the hope that it will plant a seed for positive eating habits that will last a lifetime. We
believe it is absolutely vital to teach children about food and practical cooking skills
from a young age in order to have any long term affect.
Jamie's Food Revolution (established 2010)
Jamie's Food Revolution combines the ambitions of both Jamie's Ministry of Food
and Jamie's School Dinners and exists to tackle the obesity epidemic in America.
The campaign seeks to educate people about food and cooking, address the quality
of the food served in school lunch halls and inspire food retailers to provide good
quality, fresh, local food to their customers.
The campaign is funded solely by donations made from the USA (jamieoliver.com).
References
Jamie Oliver Foundation. Retrieved April 01, 2012 from
http://www.jamieoliver.com/foundation/
9

23. According to Nancy Gibbs (2006) there is a great importance of
sharing a family meal:
Close your eyes and picture Family Dinner. June Cleaver is in an
apron and pearls, Ward in a sweater and tie. The napkins are
linen, the children are scrubbed, steam rises from the green-
bean casserole, and even the dog listens intently to what is
being said. This is where the tribe comes to transmit wisdom,
embed expectations, confess, conspire, forgive, repair. The
idealized version is as close to a regular worship service, with
its litanies and lessons and blessings, as a family gets outside a
sanctuary.
That ideal runs so strong and so deep in our culture and psyche
that when experts talk about the value of family dinners, they
may leave aside the clutter of contradictions. Just because we
eat together does not mean we eat right: Domino's alone
delivers a million pizzas on an average day. Just because we are
sitting together doesn't mean we have anything to say: children
bicker and fidget and daydream; parents stew over the remains
of the day. Often the richest conversations, the moments of
genuine intimacy, take place somewhere else, in the car, say, on
the way back from soccer at dusk, when the low light and lack
of eye contact allow secrets to surface. 10

24. Yet for all that, there is something about a shared meal--not some holiday blowout,
not once in a while but regularly, reliably--that anchors a family even on nights when
the food is fast and the talk cheap and everyone has someplace else they'd rather be.
And on those evenings when the mood is right and the family lingers, caught up in an
idea or an argument explored in a shared safe place where no one is stupid or shy or
ashamed, you get a glimpse of the power of this habit and why social scientists say
such communion acts as a kind of vaccine, protecting kids from all manner of harm.
In fact, it's the experts in adolescent development who wax most emphatic about the
value of family meals, for it's in the teenage years that this daily investment pays
some of its biggest dividends. Studies show that the more often families eat together,
the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating
disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school,
delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use. "If
it were just about food, we would squirt it into their mouths with a tube," says Robin
Fox, an anthropologist who teaches at Rutgers University in New Jersey, about the
mysterious way that family dinner engraves our souls. "A meal is about civilizing
children. It's about teaching them to be a member of their culture.“
The most probing study of family eating patterns was published last year by the
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and
reflects nearly a decade's worth of data gathering. The researchers found essentially
that family dinner gets better with practice; the less often a family eats together, the
worse the experience is likely to be, the less healthy the food and the more meager
the talk. Among those who eat together three or fewer times a week, 45% say the TV
is on during meals (as opposed to 37% of all households), and nearly one-third say
there isn't much conversation. Such kids are also more than twice as likely as those
who have frequent family meals to say there is a great deal of tension among family
members, and they are much less likely to think their parents are proud of them.
The older that kids are, the more they may need this protected time together, but the
less likely they are to get it. Although a majority of 12-year-olds in the CASA study
said they had dinner with a parent seven nights a week, only a quarter of 17-year-
olds did. Researchers have found all kinds of intriguing educational and ethnic
patterns. The families with the least educated parents, for example, eat together the
most; parents with less than a high school education share more meals with their
kids than do parents with high school diplomas or college degrees. That may end up
acting as a generational corrective; kids who eat most often with their parents are
40% more likely to say they get mainly A's and B's in school than kids who have two
or fewer family dinners a week. Foreign-born kids are much more likely to eat with
10

25. their parents. When researchers looked at ethnic and racial breakdowns, they found
that more than half of Hispanic teens ate with a parent at least six times a week, in
contrast to 40% of black teens and 39% of whites.
Back in the really olden days, dinner was seldom a ceremonial event for U.S. families.
Only the very wealthy had a separate dining room. For most, meals were informal, a
kind of rolling refueling; often only the men sat down. Not until the mid--19th
century did the day acquire its middle-class rhythms and rituals; a proper dining room
became a Victorian aspiration. When children were 8 or 9, they were allowed to join
the adults at the table for instruction in proper etiquette. By the turn of the century,
restaurants had appeared to cater to clerical workers, and in time, eating out became
a recreational sport. Family dinner in the Norman Rockwell mode had taken hold by
the 1950s: Mom cooked, Dad carved, son cleared, daughter did the dishes.
All kinds of social and economic and technological factors then conspired to shred
that tidy picture to the point that the frequency of family dining fell about a third over
the next 30 years. With both parents working and the kids shuttling between sports
practices or attached to their screens at home, finding a time for everyone to sit
around the same table, eating the same food and listening to one another, became a
quaint kind of luxury. Meanwhile, the message embedded in the microwave was that
time spent standing in front of a stove was time wasted.
But something precious was lost, anthropologist Fox argues, when cooking came to
be cast as drudgery and meals as discretionary. "Making food is a sacred event," he
says. "It's so absolutely central--far more central than sex. You can keep a population
going by having sex once a year, but you have to eat three times a day." Food comes
so easily to us now, he says, that we have lost a sense of its significance. When we
had to grow the corn and fight off predators, meals included a serving of gratitude.
"It's like the American Indians. When they killed a deer, they said a prayer over it,"
says Fox. "That is civilization. It is an act of politeness over food. Fast food has killed
this. We have reduced eating to sitting alone and shoveling it in. There is no
ceremony in it.“
Or at least there wasn't for many families until researchers in the 1980s began
looking at the data and doing all kinds of regression analyses that showed how a
shared pot roast could contribute to kids' success and health. What the studies could
not prove was what is cause and what is effect. Researchers speculate that maybe
kids who eat a lot of family meals have less unsupervised time and thus less chance
to get into trouble. Families who make meals a priority also tend to spend more time
10

26. on reading for pleasure and homework. A whole basket of values and habits, of which
a common mealtime is only one, may work together to ground kids. But it's a
bellwether, and baby boomers who won't listen to their instincts will often listen to
the experts: the 2005 CASA study found that the number of adolescents eating with
their family most nights has increased 23% since 1998.
That rise may also reflect a deliberate public-education campaign, including public-
service announcements on TV Land and Nick at Nite that are designed to convince
families that it's worth some inconvenience or compromise to make meals together a
priority. The enemies here are laziness and leniency: "We're talking about a
contemporary style of parenting, particularly in the middle class, that is overindulgent
of children," argues William Doherty, a professor of family social science at the
University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and author of The Intentional Family: Simple
Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties. "It treats them as customers who need to be
pleased." By that, he means the willingness of parents to let dinner be an individual
improvisation--no routine, no rules, leave the television on, everyone eats what they
want, teenagers take a plate to their room so they can keep IMing their friends.
The food-court mentality--Johnny eats a burrito, Dad has a burger, and Mom picks
pasta--comes at a cost. Little humans often resist new tastes; they need some
nudging away from the salt and fat and toward the fruits and fiber. A study in the
Archives of Family Medicine found that more family meals tends to mean less soda
and fried food and far more fruits and vegetables.
Beyond promoting balance and variety in kids' diets, meals together send the
message that citizenship in a family entails certain standards beyond individual
whims. This is where a family builds its identity and culture. Legends are passed
down, jokes rendered, eventually the wider world examined through the lens of a
family's values. In addition, younger kids pick up vocabulary and a sense of how
conversation is structured. They hear how a problem is solved, learn to listen to other
people's concerns and respect their tastes. "A meal is about sharing," says Doherty. "I
see this trend where parents are preparing different meals for each kid, and it takes
away from that. The sharing is the compromise. Not everyone gets their ideal menu
every night.“
Doherty heard from a YMCA camp counselor about the number of kids who arrive
with a list of foods they won't eat and who require basic instruction from counselors
on how to share a meal. "They have to teach them how to pass food around and
serve each other. The kids have to learn how to eat what's there. And they have to
10

27. learn how to remain seated until everyone else is done." The University of Kansas and
Michigan State offer students coaching on how to handle a business lunch, including
what to do about food they don't like ("Eat it anyway") and how to pass the salt and
pepper ("They're married. They never take separate vacations").
When parents say their older kids are too busy or resistant to come to the table the
way they did when they were 7, the dinner evangelists produce evidence to the
contrary. The CASA study found that a majority of teens who ate three or fewer meals
a week with their families wished they did so more often. Parents sometimes seem a
little too eager to be rejected by their teenage sons and daughters, suggests Miriam
Weinstein, a freelance journalist who wrote The Surprising Power of Family Meals.
"We've sold ourselves on the idea that teenagers are obviously sick of their families,
that they're bonded to their peer group," she says. "We've taken it to an extreme.
We've taken it to mean that a teenager has no need for his family. And that's just not
true." She scolds parents who blame their kids for undermining mealtime when the
adults are co-conspirators. "It's become a badge of honor to say, 'I have no time. I am
so busy,'" she says. "But we make a lot of choices, and we have a lot more discretion
than we give ourselves credit for," she says. Parents may be undervaluing themselves
when they conclude that sending kids off to every conceivable extracurricular activity
is a better use of time than an hour spent around a table, just talking to Mom and
Dad.
The family-meal crusaders offer lots of advice to parents seeking to recenter their
household on the dinner table. Groups like Ready, Set, Relax!, based in Ridgewood,
N.J., have dispensed hundreds of kits to towns from Kentucky to California, coaching
communities on how to fight overscheduling and carve out family downtime. More
schools are offering basic cooking instruction. It turns out that when kids help
prepare a meal, they are much more likely to eat it, and it's a useful skill that seems
to build self-esteem. Research on family meals does not explore whether it makes a
difference if dinner is with two parents or one or even whether the meal needs to be
dinner. For families whose schedules make evenings together a challenge, breakfast
or lunch may have the same value. So pull up some chairs. Lose the TV. Let the phone
go unanswered. And see where the moment takes you (Giggs, 2011).
References
Gibbs, N. (2011). The Magic of the family meal. Time Inc. Retrieved April 01, 2012
from http://www.time.com/ time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html
10

28. The characteristics of the organization such as its purpose and
structure, social economic help determine the role of the
leader. These variables are situational influences in leadership
that operates in a subtle and maybe ignored intentionally.
Leadership consists of the relationship between leadership, its
followers, and the organization. Leaders that function between
organizational relationship and situation expectations should
collaborate/be clear.
A person over the age of 65 is at an amazing rate of being
hunger. Senior hunger in America is a monumental problem.
Today, there are more than 7.5 million seniors in the United
States facing the threat of hunger. These numbers are very
alarming but the fuel that ignites the flame should motives
action that will stomp how hunger for seniors. The growing
number of seniors demands constant focus on the demands to
manage and control the increasing rate of hunger seniors
worldwide. MOWAA's four pillars outline our comprehensive
approach to ending senior hunger (Meals, 2012).
The Vision and Mission of Meals on Wheels (MOW) is; to end
senior hunger by 2020; Our Mission is to provide national
leadership to end senior hunger. On September 1, 2009, the
MOWAA Board of Directors approved a new vision for the 11

29. Meals On Wheels Association of America: to end senior hunger by 2020. In order to
turn this 2020 vision into a reality, a national movement to end senior hunger by
recruiting 6 million people who are willing to stand up and pledge to do what it takes
to end senior hunger (Meals, 2012).
The Services Initiatives
The 2007 research shows close to 6 million seniors’ battles hunger. The greatest
impact is to eliminate senior’s hunger by decreasing the numbers with a commitment
to raising the number of volunteers that pledge to assist with MOW in America by
2020. There have been several different events held annually that brings awareness
to senior hunger worldwide. March is the month each year that the Mayors for
Meals are held to increase awareness and get volunteers and raise funds. Another
event is Meals for Moms mother’s day meals and e-cards to make homebound senior
mothers feel special (Mayor, 2006).
MOWAA have several major constituents that donate funds to maintain the
operations of the organization. 1) Wal-Mart Foundation - MOWAA Building the Future
Grants Program, 2) We are Meals On Wheels National Multi-Media Public Awareness
Campaign, 3) Wal-Mart Foundation Institute for Senior Nutrition Education, and 4)
MOWAA State-Affiliate Training Wheels Program. Homebound seniors can better
understand health information through health literacy, Rutgers University and the
University of Maryland has established food safety practices among both MOW
programs and homebound seniors. Feelgoodfood is an organization that provides
home-delivered meals and telephone reassurance to seniors upon their discharge
from hospitals and other inpatient facilities, helping to substantially reduce post-
discharge readmissions and other healthcare costs (Meals, 2012).
Guidance of Leadership
The fund raises is based on the Four Pillars of the MOWAA to eliminate senior hunger.
The National Campaign for Community Impact helps member programs serve more
meals, maintain and repair needed equipment, allows seniors to live independently,
in their own homes.
MOWAA empowers leaders in the senior nutrition field with training, skills and
knowledge. There are five critical training areas: nutrition, leadership, development,
communication, and volunteer management. Money is still needed for the
11

30. educational purpose. The National Response conducts research and provides a better
understanding of the extent of senior hunger, identifying emerging trends and raising
awareness. The leadership believes in transparency and understands the important of
avoiding waste, and ensuring efficient and dedicated action (Meals, 2012).
References
Mayors Unite Across the USA to Deliver Meals to Homebound Citizens; Mayors For
Meals Initiative to Raise Awareness of the Serious Problem of Senior Hunger in
America. PR Newswire, New York. March 22, 2006. Retrieved April 1, 2012 from
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.library.gcu.edu:204
8/docview/451208604?accountid=7374
Meals On Wheels Association of America (2012). Retrieved April 1, 2012 from
http://www.mowaa.org/page.aspx? pid=212
11

31. According to Meals On Wheels:
The Meals On Wheels Association of America is the oldest and
largest national organization composed of and representing
local, community-based Senior Nutrition Programs in all 50 U.S.
states, as well as the U.S. Territories.
All told, there are some 5,000 local Senior Nutrition Programs
in the United States. These programs provide well over one
million meals to seniors who need them each day. Some
programs serve meals at congregate locations like senior
centers, some programs deliver meals directly to the homes of
seniors whose mobility is limited, and many programs provide
both services.
While remarkable, the one million meals per day figure
underestimates the size and shape of our network and its reach
and influence in communities across America. In addition to
the hundreds of thousands of seniors who receive meals, there
are many thousands of professionals employed at the various
local Senior Nutrition Programs across the U.S. More notable
than that is the virtual army of volunteers who also "work" for
these programs. It is said that this group, numbering between
800,000 and 1.7 million individuals, is the largest volunteer
army in the nation. 12

32. The Pledge
A groundbreaking research study found that as of 2007, there were nearly 6 million
seniors facing the threat of hunger. Our goal is to match that number – with 6 million
people who are willing to stand up and take the Pledge to end senior hunger in
America by the year 2020.
March For Meals & Mayors For Meals
March For Meals is an annual national campaign, held in March of every year, and
designed to increase public awareness, recruit new volunteers and increase funding
for Members of MOWAA.
The Rural Initiative
While Senior Nutrition Programs across the United States share problems common to
all of them—such as a growing aging population and limited resources—Senior
Nutrition Programs in rural areas face unique challenges such as time, distance, cost
and labor (mowaa.org).
References
Meals On Wheels Association of America (2012). Retrieved April 1, 2012 from
http://www.mowaa.org/page.aspx? pid=212
12

33. According to Research, “The most important factors when
forming collaborations are partners with whom one shares
objectives… having a personal relationship with the IT leader…
having institutional missions that are like one’s own… and share
services and development projects” (ECAR, 2007, p. 49).
“Collaborations with shared objectives accepted by all
participants enjoy more efficient decision making” (ECAR,
2007, p. 49).
References
ECAR Research Study. (2007). Forming and managing
collaborations. Educase Center for Applied Research. Retrieved
April 1, 2012 from
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers0704/rs/ers07046.p
df
13

34. According to the ACGA website:
The Mission of the American Community Gardening
Association is to build community by increasing and enhancing
community gardening and greening across the United States
and Canada.
The American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) is a
bi-national nonprofit membership organization of
professionals, volunteers and supporters of community
greening in urban and rural communities. The Association
recognizes that community gardening improves people’s
quality of life by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and
community development, stimulating social interaction,
encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods,
producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets,
conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation,
exercise, therapy and education.
ACGA and its member organizations work to promote and
support all aspects of community food and ornamental
gardening, urban forestry, preservation and management of
open space, and integrated planning and management of
developing urban and rural lands.
The Association supports community gardening by facilitating14
the formation and expansion of state and regional community

35. gardening networks; developing resources in support of community gardening; and,
encouraging research and conducting educational programs (communitygarden.org).
References
ACGA Website. Bringing People Together. Retrieved April 01, 2012 from
http://www.communitygarden.org/
14

36. According to Local Harvest, “The best organic food is what's
grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets,
family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in
your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and
many other goodies. Want to support this great web site? Shop
in our catalog for things you can't find locally!”
(localharvest.org).
References
Bringing People Together Retrieved April 01, 2012 from
http://www.localharvest.org/
15

37. According to volunteer match:
VolunteerMatch strengthens communities by making it easier
for good people and good causes to connect. The organization
offers a variety of online services to support a community of
nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic
engagement. Our popular service welcomes millions of visitors
a year and has become the preferred internet recruiting tool
for more than 81,000 nonprofit organizations”
Does Your Nonprofit Fight Hunger?
With support from the Walmart Foundation, our new initiative
provides free tools and trainings specifically for organizations
that involve volunteers in the fight against hunger.
Grow Your Employee Volunteer Program
Our newest service, VolunteerMatch Consulting, helps
companies of all sizes develop programs to successfully engage
volunteers (volunteermatch.org).
References
Bringing People Together Retrieved April 01, 2012 from 16
http://www.volunteermatch.org/

38. Thank You from the LDR 625 M7 Red Team CLC!
Danielle Crisp
Marcie Jenkins-Williams
Jody Martinez
Mohamed Soliman
17