On September 24, 2006, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the US celebrated 10 years of Retriever Essentials, the program on campus that provides food and other necessities to students in need.  Poet Faith P. Nelson (shown at the podium) was invited to read her Poetry X Hunger poem, Two-faced Hunger.    Several students had also written about hunger, and many of their poems were also on display at the event.   Thanks to Michael Berardi and the Retriever Essentials team for all of this. 

​September is Hunger Action Month.  In response, The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is partnering with Ellicott City (Maryland) Poetry and Prose and Poetry X Hunger to host an in-person and livestreamed poetry reading with an open mic.  See the flyer for more info or visit Hunger Action Month Reading - The Writer's Center

We hope to raise 1500 US dollars for the Maryland Food Bank.  Can’t attend?  No worries.  You can contribute here -- Maryland Food Bank | Fundraising

​To livestream the event -- https://www.youtube.com/live/O_Iwy7kLQCc

​Other relevant websites -=
The Writer’s Center -- Home - The Writer's Center
Ellicott City Poetry and Prose -- EC Poetry & Prose – Peace – Poetry – Truth
Poetry X Hunger -- Poetry X Hunger - Home
Maryland Food Bank -- Maryland Food Bank - A Hunger Relief Non-Profit | Donate Now
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Arionzi Clinton of AaP AgriFood reports on some exciting work in Uganda.  To increase students' awareness of opportunities in agri-business, he invited Ms. Grace Akatuha, Founder and CEO of Kikazi Agri Product Company Limited, to visit with students in Poetry X Hunger clubs about opportunities in agriculture.  Turns out, the entire school turned out to hear Ms. Akatuha. 

Here are a few pictures of her with the students.  Mr.  Arionzi is in the background.

For more information, visit - AaP agrifood Initiative

Arionzi Clinton of AaP agrifood Initiative has developed a remarkable library of resources from his work with several schools in Uganda to introduce poetry into classrooms.   Through his work, Poetry X Hunger clubs are now very active in many schools.  In other schools, he is partnering with Field of Hope (Field of Hope - Non-profit dedicated to Uganda Agriculture Education) to include poetry in ongoing agricultural clubs.  The students are loving it!

The library of resources Mr. Arionzi has developed includes the text of many fo the students' poems as well as recordings of students presenting their poems.  He also has included a Guidebook in English, French and Spanish that describes how Poetry x Hunger clubs are formed.  

If interested in accessing the Library, contact Mr. Arionzi at [email protected].  

The picture is of Mr. Arionzi (center) visiting with members of a Poetry X Hunger club.   

​Recent info is now available on the huge amount of food wasted in the United States.

Here are highlights from the Dec 18, 2025 Greenbelt (Maryland, USA) News Review, in an article by Tom Taylor titled, "Reducing Food Waste Is Holiday Gift to the Community. Planet."

ReFED. a non-profit organization dedicated to food waste reduction, estimated that on Thanksgiving Day 2024 alone, 320 million pounds of food would be wasted.  This is equal to $550 million worth of uneaten food discarded and to 267 million meals that could have been served to people indeed.  [Here's the link to ReFED -- Food Waste Solutions & Statistics - Reducing Food Waste in the U.S.

Production of this [wasted food] also meant wasted use of 16.2 trillion gallons of water (more than the total freshwater use of California and Idaho combined) and 140 million acres of US cropland (equivalent to the combined size of California and New York State.)

[And] discarded food waste comprises 22 percent of residential waste in the Prince George's County (Maryland, USA) landfill according to the most recent waste composition study (2022).  

And, here's a link to Food Rescue US -- a group working to reduce waste -- as shared by Nan Meneely.
https://share.google/6cSnQPCQLfWfZnzYg

Here's what Nan says about food waste --
"I found the equivalent of New Haven's Haven's Harvest organization, for whom I volunteered. Donating, writing, speaking out about the devastation of hunger nationally and globally are all things we know we can do. I'm here just to say that volunteering for this kind of organization brings a kind of gratification only human interaction can give. When I delivered the leftovers from Conn College (poached salmon once!) to New London's Community Meals and the Covenant House shelter there, I got the kind of face to face thanks and grateful hugs that both made me cry and were my armor against the sense of futility our politics breed. It's a giving thing from and to the volunteer. "

 

In her article, "Let Them Eat Content: When Ordinary Stapels Become Signifiers of Wealth," Angelique Minas discusses the troubling role that "wealthy" foods are increasingly playing in society.   

From the article -- "Food is being treated less as a basic necessity and more as a symbolic luxury and social currency."

Here's the link to the article:  Let them eat content: when ordinary staples become signifiers of wealth - Overland literary journal