West Texas Hunger Summit, March 26, 2015
Presented by
The Texas Hunger Initiative – San Angelo Region &
The Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at Region XV Education Service Center
612 S. Irene St.
San Angelo TX 76903
The West Texas Hunger Summit is an opportunity for agency representatives, school districts, churches, and individuals from across West Texas region to share their knowledge and expertise about food insecurity and prospective methods to overcome it. This event is designed to encourage the exchange of ideas and to strengthen partnerships as we move closer to our goal of ending hunger in Texas.
The keynote speaker for the Summit is Dr. Baker Harrell, who is the founder of IT’S TIME TEXAS. Dr. Harrell will review the critical state of health and hunger in America and will summarize the wide-sweeping societal shifts that have contributed to these closely linked crises. Dr. Harrell will then detail the state of the art in community/place-based approaches to improving health and will offer strategies for adapting these approaches to the issue of hunger.
Dr. Jeremy Lyon, Superintendent of Schools for Frisco ISD, will be our lunch speaker. The acceleration of unhealthy eating choices and poor exercise habits has resulted in a well-chronicled health crisis in our country. At the very time that we expect every child to succeed academically in a college-ready framework of education, we are inattentive to ensuring that children are growing up with even the most basic dietary and exercise needs being a part of everyday life. In exploring these topics there is a pathway for a collective shift of our health and wellness priorities for children and for ending our legacy of failing to make the health and wellness of our children the fundamental priority for their future success.
The West Texas Hunger Summit will offer breakout sessions tracts in the afternoon, including Health and Wellness, Community Organizing, Hunger Outreach, and Overcoming Hunger Barriers. Offerings under each one of these tracts are as follows:
Continuing education credits for social work, LPC, and LCDC will be available for the Summit.
Tract 1: Health and Wellness:
“Dinner Tonight” – Jessica Theimer, Statewide coordinator for Dinner Tonight, Texas AgriLife.
The Dinner Tonight program helps families meet their healthy lifestyle goals and encourages family mealtime by providing quick, nutritious and cost-effective recipes and demonstrations via web-based videos.
“The Challenge—Make Your Community the Healthiest in Texas” – Stephanie Reisner, Wellness Champion for San Angelo HEB
September Summers, Health and Wellness Coordinator, Shannon Medical Center
This session will have information about the HEB Community Challenge and will include how to use the Teach Healthier App and the website; andwhat San Angelo HEB is doing to help the community. It will also include information about the importance of planning nutrition, fitness, and finances.
Tract 2: Community Organizing:
“Engendering Neighborhood Identity and Activism through Service-Learning” – Dr. Ken Stewart, ASU Sociology Department and Patrick Howard, Director of Development Services, City of San Angelo and students from ASU
The class this year is working with Mr. Patrick Howard and his staff at the City of San Angelo Development Services Department to engender a stronger identity of San Angelo’s neighborhoods and improve the bridge of communication between neighborhood residents and City government.
“Food Insecurity” – Jenny Eyer, Children at Risk, Assistant Director for Health and Nutrition for Children
With nearly 2 million children facing food insecurity in the state of Texas, hunger is an issue that impacts not only the current status of kids, but their future as well. Schools and organizations are taking steps to improve these statistics, and in this session we will discuss these current programs and policies as well as where we can go from here.
Tract 3: Hunger Outreach:
“Senior Hunger” – David Weaver, Executive Director of the South Plains Food Bank, Lubbock Texas
David Weaver will be talking about Senior Hunger in rural areas and ways we are attempting to address the needs. Feeding a hungry person meets their immediate nutritional needs and their stomach stops hurting. We feed the hungry out of compassion. But in reality, feeding the hungry means different things to different people. For a hungry senior citizen, it can be the difference between being able to afford medication or not taking medication. Feeding the hungry is more than just a hunger issue. Feeding the hungry is about education, health and creating family. People who are hungry drag us all down. But when we take care of children, seniors and the working poor, we are not only being compassionate, we are building up our community and our country.
“Food Gleaning” – Caroline McLain and Kathleen Lokey, Baylor University BUCK Program
The Baylor University Campus Kitchen is a student led non-profit organization focused on addressing hunger by recovering food from dining halls, cooking meals for local organizations, and harvesting produce from the Baylor Community Garden to be used in prepared meals on a weekly basis. Kathleen and Caroline will share the nuts and bolts of maintaining the Campus Kitchen program and alleviating food waste on campus. They will also discuss community garden sustainability, educational programming in the garden, and engaging community members to be active in the local food movement.
Tract 4: Overcoming Hunger Barriers:
“SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps) from A – Z”, Donnie McDonald, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
There are always people who need to access the resources and benefits to help them toward a better life, and they need a caring advocate to guide them through the often confusing processes. Whether helping a Katrina or Ike survivor at Austin’s Convention Center or training other professionals to guide needy individuals towards available services and benefits, Donnie approaches all with extensive knowledge, a caring heart, and a dose of humor.
“Fair & Equitable Lending Practices: How to Become a Community Advocate” –
Rucker Preston, Executive Director of Helping Hands Belton and
Ann Baddour, Director, Fair Financial Services Program of Texas Appleseed
Payday and auto title businesses sell short-term loans to families in desperate straits—often carrying annual percentage rates of 500% more. This session will include an informative and interactive session which will equip participants to understand the world of predatory lenders through the lens of working-class families who borrow out of desperation. An interactive simulation and other educational resources are taught to participants as a means to help create community advocates and educators. This panel will not only offer information about the problem but will show what Texas faith communities and nonprofits are doing to work towards a solution.
Schedule for the West Texas Hunger Summit:
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.Registration
9:30 – 9:45 a.m.Welcome
9:45 – 10:45 a.m.Keynote Speaker – Dr. Baker Harrell
10:45 – 11:00 a.m.Break
11:00– 12:00 p.m.Keynote Speaker part 2 – Dr. Baker Harrell
12:00 – 1:15 p.m.Lunch and Presentation by Dr. Jeremy Lyon
1:15 - 1:30 p.m.Break
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.Breakout Session #1
2:30 – 2:45 p.m.Break
2:45 – 3:45 p.m.Breakout Session #2
3:45 – 4:00 p.m.What’s Next? & Evaluation forms
For more information about the West Texas Hunger Summit, contact Mary Herbert at
To register use the QR code or link: